Pizza Hut removing all signs from buildings?

[Super S]

Earlier this summer, the Pizza Hut in Longview, WA removed the older "Pizza Hut" signage from the trademark red roof. In its place...nothing. Not even a repaint, and you can clearly tell where the old letters were. I thought the location had closed, but it remains open, and has the current logo on their road sign. However, the building itself has no signage at all. Is Pizza Hut doing this elsewhere? I will also add that the location never seems to be very busy when I drive by it.

[Super S]

It has now been six months, and the building itself still lacks any signage and still has not been repainted. I find it a very odd move to eliminate signage, unless the end of a lease is near or something.

[storewanderer]

I have seen this elsewhere in a number of smaller towns. I am not sure just why they are doing this, as if they think the road signs are enough.

[BillyGr]

One thing that might come in to play in some locations - local laws (particularly with the mentioned "small towns").

I know in this area some towns have banned roof signs (which these would qualify as).

While those laws have been passed over the years, they usually allow existing signs to stay in place (grandfathered in).

But, given that Pizza Hut has been changing signs/logos on stores, if they removed a sign then they may not be able to put up a new one in it's place, as it would no longer be grandfathered in.

This may not explain ALL the missing signs, but it could certainly explain some of them.

Also to note - I have seen locations in this area with newer signs (usually smaller than the old lettering) up on the roof, also usually without any attempt to cover the old outlines, so they are replacing some of them at any rate.

(Note that covering the old letter spots could be hard - some of these roof materials seem to not work well with painting. We have an old grocery store here that was aqua - it was then painted red, brown and dark blue as other tenants moved in and out - now it's empty (and has been since the Eckerd takeover by Rite Aid) - but if you look where paint has worn off, you don't see much brown or red, just the original aqua color. Another example - look at any old Howard Johnson's where the roof has been repainted - unless it's been done recently, you're likely to see bits of orange peeking out, no matter how many colors or coats have been applied).

[Super S]

Longview, WA has very few sign restrictions, and there is a newer Panda Express, as well as a KFC/A&W combo nearby where the road signs are larger, and rather tall. I just found it a bit odd that, in an area where Pizza Hut seems to have a very small market share, that they would want to remove their signs and make people wonder if the location is open.