BY JON O’CONNELL
After more than a decade in business, the owner of a popular Abingtons sushi and Japanese restaurant quit suddenly.
Jumbo Seafood, 918 Northern Boulevard, announced on Facebook early Monday morning that it was closed for good.
Attempts to reach owner Tim Chen were unsuccessful. His landlord, Gina Yarrish, said Chen closed for personal reasons.
Jumbo did a brisk business in his storefront near the John E. Fitzgerald Bridge, which he had occupied since 2015.
Chen started Atami Sushi along Old Lackawanna Trail in 2008, then relocated and changed the name to Jumbo Seafood. Atami remains open under different ownership.
“The service and the quality of the food he provided — he did very well and it was an awesome environment to be in,” Yarrish said.
She wants another local business to fill the space, and sees a karate or dance studio, or a natural health practice doing well in that spot, she said.
“There’s a lot going on in the area at the moment,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for a local business to come into that area.”
The space, as well as the former dry cleaner space next store, are two vacant units at the center of a flurry of big new projects.
- The former Ramada hotel recently renovated and rebranded as a Best Western Plus.
- New Jersey-based Falcon Properties is razing the former Nichols Village Hotel & Spa plaza and installing a large shopping complex.
- Cherry Hill Partners is building a KFC restaurant at the top of Northern Boulevard.
“That stretch is doing exceptional, from what I can see,” said Robert Vanston, a real estate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Preferred Properties. His office sits less than a mile uphill from Jumbo Seafood, where Northern Boulevard becomes South State Street.
“As I look out here, it’s basically a four-lane highway,” he said, adding that he expects most storefront businesses would do well if they picked any spot within that commercial corridor.
Contact the writer: joconnell@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131; @jon_oc on Twitter
