Miller Hill Perkins Restaurant closes permanently

The Perkins Restaurant and Bakery next to the Miller Hill Mall has closed permanently.

The restaurant, operated by the Flaherty family, had been in business for 37 years. Dillon Flaherty told WDIO News the restaurant had become unsustainable for "a lot of reasons."

"It’s a sad, sad thing. Sad day for myself, my employees, but mostly some of the wonderful customers we had over the years that have been so supportive and regulars," Flaherty said.

The restaurant had been a gathering spot for numerous card clubs, bridge clubs, retiree groups, and church groups.

"A lot of them we were worried about, we lost a lot of them during COVID, some of the older people. That was really sad, but so many of them, they couldn’t wait to come back when we were able to open again," he said.

On Monday, staff members were emptying out the building but still made fresh muffins and cookies to hand out to regulars.

"Some of them got to see some of their longtime customers and some of them are real broken up. I have I have a couple people here that have been servers for 31 years," Flaherty said.

"We’re not a real big outfit. We have what, 35 employees now and COVID was very tough but they all came back and they’re like a family and they’re like my family," he said.

The Perkins restaurants on London Road and West Michigan Street remain in operation. They are owned by Dillon’s brother Sean Flaherty, along with locations in Superior and Cloquet.

"Hopefully some of my regular customers I’ll be able to see at Perkins East or Perkins West and, and keep our relationship going," Flaherty said.

Flaherty thanked the community for their support over the years.

The land and restaurant building are owned by Simon Property Group, the owner of the mall. Flaherty said he did not know what the mall plans to do with the property.