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Buddy's Pizza photo
Buddy’s Pizza, which made Detroit-style pizza popular, made a push in recent years to expand its brand in western Michigan. Ultimately, that effort has failed.
The Detroit News reports that Buddy's is closing its Grand Rapids shop, the last of its restaurants in western Michigan.
On Tuesday, the company posted on Facebook:
“We regret to inform you that Buddy’s Pizza Grand Rapids will be closing permanently at 10 p.m. on Friday, January 23, and we’d love to see you before then. We are grateful for the support and memories over the past seven years and proud we were able to bring The Original Detroit-Style Pizza to the Grand Rapids community. We hope to see you at one of our other locations the next time you visit the Metro Detroit area.”
The News reports that the closing comes after Buddy’s shuttered a shop last spring in Portage, outside of Kalamazoo, and in Walker, near Grand Rapids, in 2024.
Buddy’s still has a number of locations, including two in Detroit, as well as in Grosse Pointe, Dearborn, Livonia, Novi, Ann Arbor, and Okemos, outside of Lansing.
Buddy's Pizza CEO Joe Dominiak said in a statement last year that many customers on the west side of the state didn't take to the square style and were asking for round pizza, The News pointed out.
In recent years, Buddy’s has seen some legitimate challengers in the square pizza arena, including Grandma Bob’s Pizza and Michigan & Trumbull Pizza in Detroit, Como’s in Ferndale, Pie Sci in Detroit and Oak Park, and Jet’s at multiple locations. On top of that, Loui’s Pizza in Hazel Park has long been a contender.
Detroit-style pizza has caught on in other parts of the country, including New York and Chicago, which boast their own styles of pizza. It has also caught on in other parts of the world, including Mexico, Canada, Vietnam, France and Spain.
