After less than 5 years in business, national drive-in fast-food chain Sonic has permanently closed its location in San Diego's Pacific Beach, but the space has already been leased to become yet another Starbucks.
In November 2016, a Sonic Drive-In location opened at 2736 Garnet Avenue near Mission Bay Drive in Pacific Beach. Famous for its 1950s-style drive-in stalls, roller skating carhops and its menu of burgers, chili cheese dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches and milk shakes, the PB location was the eighth Sonic franchise in San Diego County. Like the other San Diego Sonic locations, the PB Sonic was operated by Pacific Drive-Ins, led by Max Gelwix and Kasey Suryan, who has a multi-location franchise license with exclusivity in San Diego County and nearly 20 locations in California. The Pacific Beach Sonic location closed for good last week and building owner Duhs Commercial have already leased the 2,308 square-foot standalone space to Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee for its third neighborhood branch.We reached out to Pacific Drive-Ins for comment but they declined to provide a statement about the reason for the closure at this time. Sonic Drive-In locations remain open at Camp Pendleton, Kearny Mesa, National City, North Park, San Marcos, Santee and Vista.
