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SCHENECTADY – Local staple Pinhead Susan’s has closed its doors, but several parties are interested in the space.
Property owner Joey Faizy announced on Facebook Monday that Pinhead Susan’s was officially closed. In his post he said the restaurant owners were “not the right fit for it.”
Faizy said he could not disclose the names, but two major franchises have reached out to him with interest in the property, as well as a number of other interested parties.
“It’s not even on the market yet, I didn’t expect this,” Faizy said Monday afternoon. “That just shows you that location, Pinheads is like a gold mine. If anyone opens up anything there, they are going to say ‘I’m at the old Pinheads spot.’ It’s the only place with the parking, it’s right between Proctors and Rivers.”
The property might not have to go on the market because of all the promising interest there has been already, Faizy said. He said if he does put the property on the market he will do so by this Friday at the latest, but he wants to be able to feel out the interest there has been in the property already.
“I didn’t know what the value of this corner lot was until today,” Faizy said. “It’s a staple, it’s like a landmark. My hope is to get someone in who’s qualified to revamp it as an Irish pub. There’s a family sentiment to that. My family used to go there when I was growing up, that’s half the reason why I bought the place.”
Pinhead Susan’s officially closed last Friday, Faizy said. The two individuals running the restaurant were four or five months behind on rent, he said.
“I really liked the guys who were renting, I really did,” Faizy said. “But, at the end of the day, Schenectady taxes and mortgage payments, it’s too high, I can’t float it for too long.
The liquor license for Pinhead Susan’s had been issued under the names Stephen Frank and Justin Sanders, according to the New York State Liquor Authority.
Faizy said he is meeting with around 25 people Monday night about the property, before talking with the franchises that are interested.
“The last offer I got was $775,000 to sell,” Faizy said.
Faizy purchased the restaurant in February 2019 after former owner and co-founder Dennis McDonald had announced he would be retiring in August 2018.
McDonald and his brother Jack McDonald had renovated the 1800s building, turning it into Pinhead Susan’s in 2000.
Faizy’s post said he was looking for the next person to lease the restaurant and “start something new,” and asked, “Who is looking to lease a fully furnished restaurant?”
The original Facebook post was shared over 500 times within three hours of Faizy’s announcement.
“I hope to find someone that’s going to put love into it, revamp it, maybe a new name could be New Pinheads or something,” Faizy said.
Pinhead Susan’s was named after a piece of nearby local graffiti. In 1981, a teenage girl made good on a threat to her younger sister and painted “Susan is a Pinhead” on the rear wall of the train station parking lot nearby. The phrase was eventually painted over by the words, “Susan is still a pinhead,” and then later replaced with, “Susan remains a pinhead.” According to Pinhead Susan’s website, no one knows who painted the follow up messages after the original. In 1996, the city painted the wall with anti-graffiti paint.
Faizy received dozens of calls in regard to Pinhead Susan’s Monday, he said.
“Everyone has some type of sentimental value towards Pinheads,” Faizy said. “They either got engaged there, or had their baby shower there, they went there on a first date, the block party, we had bands. There’s a reason why it got so many shares immediately.”
Categories: -News-, Email Newsletter, Food, Life and Arts, Life and Arts, News, Schenectady, Schenectady County
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Wow! It became a restaurant? My mother worked there when it was the Schenectady Herold Printing Shop. Curious about when it became a restaurant.
The story mentions a teenage girl who claims to have been the person who wrote the graffiti in 1981. That graffiti was there long before then.
I graduated from Scotia-Glenville HS in1976, and had my license since I was 16. I drove through Schenectady all the time and that slogan was on the wall since at least 1974.
At the time there was a gas station where the parking lot is now,and there was a very narrow alley behind it called Wall St, which ran between Liberty & Union St.
I worked with the person who claimed to have done it many years ago and told that she could not have done it when she said she did.
Please get somebody to make it a real Irish pub again. Schenectady can use two!