Recession Hits Neosho Restaurants

In the far southwest corner of Missouri, the small town of Neosho, Missouri now has fewer restaurants where residents can dine. In the last thirty years, this town that once offered many Mom-and-Pop homestyle cafes and drive-in restaurants has seen the rise of popular fast food chains beat down the local flavor. One of the main business streets is Neosho Boulevard, a street lined with the same fast food places found almost anywhere in America, McDonald's, Wendy's, Hardee's, Arby's, Pizza Hut, and such. Out closer to the main Highway 71 area, Long John Silver's, Burger King, and KFC/A & W operate.

But in recent weeks, Neosho has seen more local sit-down restaurants close. One was Richardson's Restaurant, located at the Neosho Inn, a former Ramada Inn location that has also shut its' doors. Richardson's offered the closest thing to fine dining in the small town but they are now closed.

Shorty's BBQ located in the old historic downtown district, offering down home BBQ and popular onion rings, is also closed down, another victim of the recession.

In recent years, Neosho has seen other restaurants fold, including a Dairy Queen some years back, Big Daddy's Pizza Buffet, Golden Corral (the popular steak and buffet chain), and the short-lived Granny Schafer's, an old school cafe that added a location from popular sites in nearby Joplin that faded away quickly.

Rumors abound that other restaurants may be soon to follow.

In nearby Joplin, a big shopping hub for the entire southwest corner of Missouri as well as nearby southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma, restaurants are closing down as well. In recent weeks, the popular Fuddrucker's hamburger restaurant has closed its' doors and so has the Fender's Roadhouse. Many people in the area bought Fender's gift cards as Christmas gifts and are now out of the money, their friends and relatives out of a gift.