Darien Friendly's Spared in Bankruptcy Closures

Darien's location will remain open despite a decision by its parent company to close 63 restaurants along the East Coast, according to a statement from the chain.

The move is part of a broad restructuring of the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation, which announced Wednesday that it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company said it reached the "difficult but necessary decision to close underperforming restaurants," including seven in Connecticut and 37 across New England (see a full list).

But the Darien location (275 Post Rd.) is among 424 of the company's 487 restaurants slated to remain open.

In announcing the filing, Friendly's cited "the challenges of the current economic downturn, significantly increased costs, particularly in commodities such as cream, rents that exceed current market rates, and certain of the company's current unrelated liabilities."

Friendly's said it had secured $70 million in financing for the restructuring.