Royal Farms Closing

In a loss for fried chicken enthusiasts and residents in search of a quick meal, the convenience store Royal Farms closed its doors Monday for good.

Located under The Varsity, Royal Farms had been a destination for frozen foods and produce items for years on the Route 1 strip before it became the latest local business fold. Megan Miller, of the maintenance facilities department for Royal Farms, said the closing was due to poor business in the area.

A 7-Eleven is set to take its place in the coming weeks, said Raj Pura, branch manager of College Park’s Royal Farms.

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Students, especially frequent customers of Royal Farms, reacted to the shutdown with confusion and dismay.

“When I heard I was shocked,” junior communication major Alixandra Hyatt, who lives at The View, wrote in an email.

Business seemed steadily plentiful during the school year, Hyatt wrote. Yet since the end of finals, she said it had been noticeably slower.

“It was never jam-packed with a line out the door,” junior communication major Gabriella Ellrich, who lives at The View, wrote in an email. “But it had a steady flow of customers.” She cited the ATM without extra fees as the reason for most of her visits.

A sign appeared on its front doors Monday informing passersby of the closing. Quickly posted on various social media platforms such as Facebook and Yelp, the sign thanked former customers for their business and encouraged them to visit the newest Royal Farms branch in Camp Springs.

Students generally used the store for quick cups of coffee before and between classes and for late night snacks. Many frequented the store for its fried chicken tenders and potato wedges.

“They honestly have the best damn chicken I’ve ever had,” sophomore government and politics major Nikki Wolfrey said. “It’s affordable too, more than the Commons Shop or anything else on campus.”

Ellrich noted many students living in nearby apartments depended on the store, which patrons affectionately called “Rofo.”

“The elevators in The View often smelled like Rofo chicken and fries,” Ellrich wrote.

Others, such as Alexa Maines, a senior atmospheric and oceanic science major, often relied on the convenience store for frozen meals, bread and bagels.

Similar stores on the campus and further up and down Route 1 “are not as easily accessible to off-campus students who don’t have cars,” Maines said.

The new 7-Eleven might provide a needed fix for Maines and other off-campus coffee addicts, but some students are not hopeful that another convenience store can survive in the location.

“If such a student-friendly convenience store such as Royal Farms can’t survive in that space, I’m not really sure what will,” Hyatt wrote.