The demise of Shari's restaurants in the Northwest has accelerated, with confirmation its remaining restaurants in its home state of Oregon are closed.

The CEO of the restaurant's parent company confirmed in an email to the Oregon Lottery that all of Oregon's Shari's restaurants were now closed, according to multiple Oregon media outlets Monday.

The Oregon restaurants included video lottery gaming machines, which had been an extra revenue stream at the sites.

The closures mark an end of an era for the chain: Shari's launched in 1978 in Hermiston, Oregon, and had 42 sites remaining in the state.

While the news might have surprised some, previous legal filings have indicated the chain's continuing struggles with finances.

The News Tribune reported in August that multiple Shari's locations in Washington state faced landlord debt-collection lawsuits, and the chain had been served with at least three tax warrants for unpaid taxes from the state's Department of Revenue, with tax debt still owed as of Tuesday.

Oregon lottery debt

Melanie Mesaros is external communications program manager for the Oregon Lottery. In response to questions Tuesday from The News Tribune, Mesaros said that the agency is "still in the process of removing our equipment from the remaining restaurants. We've been doing this as we learned of various restaurant closures over the past couple weeks."

Shari's reportedly generated just over $34 million in video lottery sales in fiscal 2024.

Mesaros explained that each week, participating retailers deposit money into an account "for what's called our 'draw' or the revenue that's due to us for Video Lottery play. When a retailer fails to pay their weekly electronic fund transfer draw and the bank does not pay due to 'nonsufficient funds' or NSF, they are required to pay us immediately or our equipment will be disabled."

Mesaros wrote, "We learned Monday that Shari's had an NSF on October 16 and was unable to repay us or provide a bond required by administrative rule."

Shari's has an outstanding debt due to Oregon Lottery of $902,341.98, according to Mesaros.

"They will also owe us for the remainder of time the terminals were open through this weekend," Mesaros said.

The Oregonian reported that Oregon Shari's employees were notified sites in the state were to be closed for good by 5 p..m. Oct. 20.

Washington, Idaho, Wyoming sites

In Washington, Idaho and Wyoming, site closures have added up.

Shari's closed at least three Idaho restaurants by August, including one in Boise in April, one in Lewiston in May and another in Idaho Falls in July.

Three Idaho sites remain open: Garden City, where an employee on Tuesday said they are still open and are going to stay open, and sites in Meridian and Twin Falls.

Its Nampa, Idaho, location that was open in August is closed, according to its Google business listing. A call to the location had an automated message that stated, "The party you have reached is unavailable."

The Cheyenne, Wyoming, Shari's was reported closed Oct. 9 after more than 40 years of service, ending operations at the state's last site.

In July, Shari's closed its last Tacoma restaurant, 1933 S. 72nd St. at Tacoma Place shopping plaza in the South End. Its other Tacoma restaurant, 2323 Union Ave., closed in January 2022. Another restaurant in Puyallup closed in 2021.

On Oct. 1, a joint status report was filed in the debt-collection case in Pierce County Superior Court involving the former South 72nd Street site. The report stated "the parties have been working toward a resolution in this matter and continue to do so currently."

Two days later, the attorney representing Shari's Management Corp. and Shari's Non-Oregon Holdings, LLC, withdrew from the case, effective Oct. 13.

The same attorney withdrew from a case representing Shari's Management against Sound Properties, the landlord for a currently operating Shari's in Puyallup, also effective Oct. 13.

Elsewhere, the Bellingham Shari's remained listed as open as of Tuesday, along with Kelso and Moses Lake.

Just a handful of Shari's restaurants remain in operation at this point between Tacoma and the Oregon border.

In Pierce County, the Puyallup location, 10904 Canyon Road E. in Summit Country Center, was open as of Tuesday. In Thurston County, the Martin Way location in Olympia also was open.

The Vancouver, Washington, Shari's apparently had received several calls regarding their operating status, given their proximity to the Portland metro and the Oregon site closures.

"Shari's, and yes we are open," the front counter employee responded immediately when contacted Tuesday morning.

Idaho Statesman's Angela Palermo and The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.

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