It’s official: After five years at Merchant’s Square antique mall, Pittsburgh Willy’s will close its doors Feb. 2. A new downtown Chandler location, dubbed Pittsburgh Willy’s Dog House, will open a few days later.
Owner Randy Walters had been planning to keep both hot dog shops open, even though they would be less than two miles apart. But when the timetable of Wimpy’s Paradise, another downtown restaurant he’s opening, was moved up by several months, he decided to close the antique mall eatery.
“With the opportunity to open two downtown restaurants at virtually the same time, I just won’t have time for the other,” Walters tells MXSW.
Wimpy’s Paradise, an old-fashioned burger and malt parlor, will open this month in the former Piza Pizza space on San Marcos Place. Walters hadn’t planned to take over until Piza’s lease ran out this summer, but the pizzeria unexpectedly closed in November.
After Pittsburgh Willy’s closes – Walters says the Feb. 2 date might be pushed back a couple days – he and his staff will move equipment to Pittsburgh Willy’s Doghouse (pictured), a converted house a block west of San Marcos.
Walters then expects the Dog House to open two or three days later.
“It’s hard to leave the antique mall,” he admits. “It’s where my heart’s been for five years.”
