Fort Collins Chuck E. Cheese Closes Permanently

In a surprise move this week, the Fort Collins Chuck E. Cheese location closed their doors permanently.

On the entertainment company's website, you can still get the location's address and information, but under hours it says "closed" seven days a week. The Coloradoan is reporting that on Friday, four large industrial trash bins "lined the front of the store."

The building owner, Les Kaplan, told Coloradoan that he was surprised about Chuck E. Cheese's sudden closure:

It was news to me they're leaving... it's not because they were asked to leave.

Kaplan says their lease was up in November of 2019, but that the company asked him to extend it for 6 more months. After that, Kaplan had plans to tear the building down and replace it with a six-story, 149-room hotel.

A call made Friday to the Chuck E. Cheese corporate office in Irving, Texas was not returned at the time of publishing.

The first Chuck E. Cheese location was opened in San Jose, California as "Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater" in 1977. The restaurant's concept was first developed by the co-founder of ATARI. Chuck E. Cheese is credited as the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment and an indoor arcade.

Source: Wikipedia / The Coloradoan / ChuckECheese.com