Medford’s Cracker Barrel Old County Store closed this week, putting an end to the chain restaurant’s presence in Oregon.

A sign posted on the front door states: “To our Medford community — we’ve been honored to welcome guests into a home-away-from-home at our store, and we’ve valued the opportunity to be a part of so many special occasions for our guests and community over the past five years. We’re deeply saddened to announce this location as closed but we hope you visit our more than 660 Cracker Barrel locations across 44 states.”

A recorded telephone message at the location says, “This store has permanently closed” and directs callers to the company website.

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In a statement emailed to the Rogue Valley Times, the company, headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee, cited business reasons behind its decision to close.

“As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate the performance of our stores, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our guests and our business,” the statement reads in part, calling the closure a “difficult decision.”

“The decision to close a store is never one we take lightly, and our focus right now is on assisting our impacted employees during this transition,” the statement adds.

Medford’s location of the Southern-themed restaurant and gift shop opened in October 2018 and at least 200 full- and part-time workers were hired, according to news reports at the time.

At one point just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the chain had five locations in Oregon with locations in Medford, Bend and three in the greater Portland metropolitan area.

Cracker Barrel closed its Janzten Beach location in August 2022, with officials citing poor performance but employees citing safety concerns, according to news reports. Locations in Beaverton, Tualatin and Bend were closed in March of last year, with the company blaming the pandemic’s impact for the closures.

The nearest open Cracker Barrels are the two in the Sacramento, California metropolitan area — each more than 300 miles from Medford.