(SavorNation) – The closure of a Joe’s Crab Shack restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, will leave the once-flourishing seafood chain with just 14 locations nationwide.
Joe’s Crab Shack, founded in Houston in 1991, had operated nearly 140 restaurants throughout the United States at its height in 2014, FSR magazine reported. But locations have steadily declined in number over the past decade, after the brand — which had been owned by the Ignite Restaurant Group in 2014 — was acquired by Landry’s, Inc. in 2017.
The Jacksonville Beach location will shutter for good on Jan. 24, 2026, an employee of the restaurant told Nexstar. The worker was not at liberty to provide further details, but estimated that the restaurant had operated in Jacksonville Beach for close to 20 years.
“That place was [always] packed. I wonder what led to that decision,” one Reddit user wrote of the news.
Other former guests, meanwhile, had suggested there were already plenty of seafood dining options in the area, with one calling Joe’s fare “mediocre” in comparison.
Seafood chain restaurants in general, however, have been facing slowed foot traffic in recent years, dropping by 1% between 2023 and 2024, a source for the market research firm Circana told SeafoodSource last year.
The outlet later reported that sales were picking up slightly for certain brands in late 2025, including the Bonefish Grill, Red Lobster and Long John Silver’s, citing data from software company Placer.ai. Long John Silver’s, too, updated its logo in October to replace an image of a fish with that of a chicken, though the company did not say whether the change was a result of (or response to) consumer preferences for seafood.
A representative for Landry’s, Inc., did not respond to a request for information about the Joe’s Crab Shack at Jacksonville Beach, or its reasons for closing other locations in recent years. (The Ignite Restaurant Group, which had previously owned Joe’s Crab Shack, had reported dwindling sales in a bankruptcy filing before it was acquired by Landry’s, Inc., in a court auction in 2017, FSR magazine reported at the time.)
Joe’s Crab Shack COO Terry Turney, meanwhile, has confirmed that the Joe’s Crab Shack in Jacksonville, after it shutters, will reopen as a location of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., the Jacksonville Daily Record reported.
The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., too, is a seafood restaurant brand also owned by Landry’s.
“This just in, Landry’s restaurant turns into Landry’s restaurant,” another Reddit user joked of the switch.
Joe’s Crab Shack currently operates 15 restaurants throughout the U.S., including the soon-to-close location in Jacksonville Beach. Other restaurants can be found elsewhere in Florida as well as California, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.