By Rich Dupree

It was a double shot of bad news on back-to-back days this week in the City of Alexandria as two local businesses unexpectedly and permanently closed their doors without warning.

Leslie’s Pool Supplies at 2710 South MacArthur Drive posted a couple of signs today on their front door that they are permanently closed. Peering through the window, you could see boxes of merchandise being boxed up by multiple employees. Leslie’s Pool Supplies opened in 2014 in MacArthur Square, which is also home to Huddle House – and is close to the former Logan’s Roadhouse, which closed June 8, 2025.

With 800 stores in 35 states across the Country, Leslie’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 30, 2026, and has been restructuring and has closed close to 100 of those stores since that filing. The closest remaining Leslie’s Pool Supplies location is in Lafayette.

On Wednesday, longtime customers of Schlotzsky’s Deli arrived to a similar note of immediate closure of this three-decade old location at 959 MacArthur Drive. After changing hands from its original Texas-based franchise owners, Schlotzsky’s Deli remained a fixture on MacArthur Drive until Wednesday’s handwritten note was posted that apologized for the inconvenience, thanked everyone for their commitment, and then put in all caps NOTICE!!! Any person on this property will be prosecuted.

This was the last Schlotzsky’s Deli in Louisiana, with the next closest location now in nearby Marshall, Texas. Schlotzsky’s had as many as 759 stores at its height in 2001, with over 60% of those in Texas – now Schlotzsky’s has just under 300 stores in operation in 25 states.