After nearly three decades of wings, sports, and orange shorts, Texarkana’s Hooters restaurant at 5101 N. Stateline will close its doors for good on Sunday, May 3.
The Texarkana, Texas location first opened in April 1995, making it one of the brand’s longer-running locations in the region. For generations of local customers, it was a go-to spot for everything from lunch breaks and game nights to birthday celebrations and big fight watch parties.
But after almost 31 years in business, the restaurant’s final chapter is now being written.
According to local management, employees were informed of the closure at approximately 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 29. Staff members were told the restaurant simply could not maintain the sales needed to continue operating.
“It just hasn’t been enough,” one local manager said, pointing to declining revenue and shifting customer habits.
The closure comes amid sweeping changes across the Hooters brand nationwide. In March 2025, Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Texas federal court as it worked to restructure roughly $376 million in debt. The company’s plan centered on selling its company-owned restaurants to a buyer group made up of longtime franchise operators, including some of the original Hooters founders.
That buyer group included Hooters Inc. and Hoot Owl Restaurants LLC. Together, they acquired more than 100 corporate-owned locations as Hooters transitioned to a fully franchised business model. A separate management entity, Hooters Brand Management, LLC, was established to oversee brand operations moving forward.
For customers in Texarkana, those corporate changes were noticeable.
After the restructuring, longtime patrons saw a number of familiar menu favorites disappear. Popular promotions were scaled back or eliminated. Special event nights faded away. UFC fight nights, once a major draw, were no longer part of the lineup. The store also underwent changes intended to bring it back in line with a more standardized, traditional Hooters format.
Nationally, the company has been working to reposition itself as a more family-friendly brand, moving away from some of the flashier promotions of recent years while simplifying menus and standardizing operations.
For many locals, the Texarkana Hooters was more than just another chain restaurant. It was a place where birthdays were celebrated, games were watched, and plenty of memories were made. In recent years, management said family gatherings and birthday parties—especially for younger guests—had become some of the restaurant’s most common events.
Its closing also reflects broader challenges facing casual dining chains across the country, including rising food and labor costs, changing consumer preferences, and increased competition in the sports bar and restaurant market.
When the doors close Sunday night, Texarkana will lose a restaurant that has been part of the local dining scene since the mid-1990s—a place that, for better or worse, became a recognizable part of the city’s restaurant landscape.
For longtime customers, it marks the end of an era. Sunday, the staff is planning a big celebration of the decades with many of the former employees and all of their customers invited.
