Primanti Bros. has closed its Monroeville and North Versailles locations, the latest in a series of closures in recent years for the Pittsburgh-based sandwich restaurant.
Primanti spokesperson Ryan Wilkinson confirmed the restaurant closures Monday afternoon. A reason for the closures was not announced.
“It’s not a decision we take lightly,” Wilkinson said in an email to TribLive. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a meaningful shift in consumer behaviors in both of these locations, which led us to focus resources on other locations in the Pittsburgh market.”
The company closed its only two sandwich shops in Michigan in 2023, after expanding into the state less than a decade earlier. In June, the Garfield location on Penn Avenue abruptly closed its doors.
“We’ve offered many of our team members opportunities to work at one of our other restaurants,” Primanti Bros. CEO Gerald Pulsinelli said.
Both shuttered locations are on track to become new restaurants.
Pulsinelli said staff worked with Nick Nicholas and Jim Patrinos, co-founders of the Primanti Bros. brand, to find new restaurants for both spaces. The Monroeville location will reopen as a Thorn Hill Tap House, and the North Versailles location will become Smash Pub, a sister restaurant to the Smash Shack on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
“They’re not associated with us, but it was important for us in these two locations to talk with Nick and Jim and give them some time to find new tenants,” Pulsinelli said. “We’re also letting our staff know that the new tenants are holding open interviews as they build their staff.”
Primanti Bros. got its start in 1933 with Joe Primanti’s sandwich cart, which operated in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Over the years, it expanded to more than 20 locations across Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
For customers who frequented the two recently closed locations, there are Primanti Bros. locations in Homestead and Harmar.