Naked Pizza on Nassau Street is the latest chain restaurant to close in Princeton this year.
PRINCETON - The "Open" sign is dark and the chairs inside are turned upside down at the site of what once was Naked Pizza, a make-your-own pizzeria on Nassau Street.
The restaurant - one of few stores in a national chain - closed earlier this week after four years of business, according to its Facebook group.
No representative for the shop was immediately available to comment on why the pizzeria closed but it follows on the heels of other, similar chains in downtown Princeton.
Both Cheeburger Cheeburger, which sat only two doors down from Naked Pizza, and a Subway shop on Nassau closed earlier this year.
RELATED: Subway hits the rails, Hoagie Haven waves it goodbye
Though the closings leave three storefronts now empty and vacant along the popular strip of stores and restaurants, they may be indicative of a larger understanding among restaurant-goers downtown.
"People like the mom and pop shop in Princeton," Jared Mangone, manager of Porta Via, a small Italian restaurant that sits in between what once was Cheeburger Cheeburger and Naked Pizza. "They like all natural and organic."
Mangone is not alone in that belief. Other local restaurant owners and managers say there's a kind of understanding between them and many Princeton residents.
"We have a history in this town. There's a lot of people that know us," Taste of Mexico owner Felipe Cruz said Wednesday. His restaurant has been just off Nassau Street for almost two decades and Cruz said that - despite the recent closings - he's not concerned for his business.
"Most of the people who come here came with or without (chain restaurants)," he added.
For others, the chain closings could even bolster their business. Danny Alfano, a manager at Say Cheez - which is family-owned - said the restaurant has been selling many more cheeseburgers since Cheeburger Cheeburger closed down across the street.
Like Mangone he attributes the closings to Princeton residents' love of local food.
"That's why you never see a Burger King or a Wendy's in Princeton," he said, adding that the loss of chain restaurants is even an encouragement to the little guys.
"We're around and the big businesses are closing," he said with a smile.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
