Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom on Skibo Road in Fayetteville closed for good on August 24, ending nearly a decade in business after former employees said the location had been wrestling with liquor licensing trouble for about 11 weeks before the shutdown. The restaurant sat at 2140 Skibo Road in the Fayetteville Commons shopping center, a stretch of retail that has seen plenty of turnover this year.
According to The Fayetteville Observer, former workers told the paper the closure followed weeks of uncertainty tied to a lapse in the restaurant's liquor license. The Observer reported that staff pointed to licensing issues stemming from that lapse as the reason behind the sudden shutdown, though the exact cause of the lapse itself was not detailed in their account.
The licensing snag carries more weight than a simple paperwork delay might suggest. Under North Carolina statutes governing ABC permits, retail alcohol licenses require annual renewal, and a permit that lapses completely forces a business to start over with a brand-new application rather than just paying a late fee, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. For a bar-and-grill concept built around beer and cocktail sales, an 11-week gap without the ability to legally pour alcohol would represent a serious financial strain.
A History of Regulatory Trouble at the Same Address
This was not the Skibo Road location's first brush with state alcohol regulators. In February 2018, the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission hit the restaurant with a 10-day permit suspension, suspended upon payment of a $1,000 fine, after finding that it had illegally transferred alcoholic beverages between establishments without prior written approval, per state enforcement records from the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. That earlier violation shows the location had faced regulatory scrutiny over its liquor operations well before this year's licensing lapse forced its hand.
The Fayetteville restaurant had a long run at the address before its end. It opened on October 24, 2016, as the brand's third North Carolina store and its 107th location nationwide, and it marked the occasion by partnering with the USO of North Carolina to donate proceeds from its pre-opening dinner, according to RestaurantNews.com. The 5,074-square-foot building was built that same year as a freestanding outparcel to Fayetteville Commons, sitting along a commercial strip that carries roughly 51,000 vehicles a day, per a commercial listing on LoopNet.
Liquidation Already Underway
The closure's permanence is already being confirmed through an online commercial liquidation auction scheduled to conclude on September 2, selling off the kitchen equipment, fixtures, and remaining store inventory from the Skibo Road site, according to a public auction listing on LocalAuctions.com. There is no indication in available records of another operator stepping in to reopen the space.
The shutdown also fits into a much larger corporate story. Old Chicago has been shrinking for years, dropping from more than 100 locations to just 59 nationwide after closing 50 stores between 2019 and 2024, while systemwide sales fell 16.4% in 2024 to $155.4 million, per data reported by Restaurant Business. Parent company SPB Hospitality — which had acquired Old Chicago alongside several brewhouse brands for $93 million in assumed debt after former parent CraftWorks Holdings collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, according to Restaurant Business — ultimately sold Old Chicago to an undisclosed buyer in July 2025 to focus on core brands like Logan's Roadhouse and Krystal.
More Turnover Along the Skibo Road Corridor
Old Chicago's exit adds to a wave of change along Skibo Road, Fayetteville's primary retail hub surrounding Cross Creek Mall, which draws more than 24 million visitors a year as the region's only super-regional mall within 75 miles, per LoopNet's trade area data. Earlier in August, Hoodline reported that Chuy's Tex-Mex Grill confirmed plans to move into the former Bahama Breeze space at Cross Creek Mall, another sign that the corridor's casual dining lineup is being reshuffled. Whether a new tenant will eventually fill Old Chicago's vacated outparcel remains an open question for now.
