The closing of McDonald’s has been a good and bad thing for Baldwin City, depending on who you speak to about the situation. After deciding not to extend their lease, the owners of McDonald’s decided to close the restaurant on Friday, Aug. 31. Besides the obvious loss of another fast food option in town, the closing has had an effect on other restaurants, as well.

As a result of the closing, Sonic has been overflowing with customers. That is good and bad for them. It is good because they are making more money and getting the customers that used to be loyal to McDonald’s. But bad because they weren’t expecting to be hit this hard and may not have enough workers.

“We’ve been hit like crazy,” junior Katie Schwalm said, who works at Sonic. “I’ve had to go in to work so much this weekend. It’s so much more different.”

Unfortunately, many students who were employed by McDonald’s are now looking for work elsewhere.

“Some of us have guaranteed jobs at Subway, while some of us have to find new jobs now,” junior Sarah Gibbs said. “They let us know on such short notice though, that we really didn’t have much time to find a new job before we closed. That kind of frustrated me.”

Some of the former employees were not sad to see McDonald’s close.

“I’m not too sad about McDonald’s closing because I’ve got a job at Subway now.” junior Joe Chapman said.

On the other hand, some students were sad to see McDonald’s close.

“I miss McDonald’s,” senior Emily Stephens said. “I really liked that place.”