After 11 months at its East Liberty Street location, the restaurant @burger closed its doors for the final time last weekend.

The restaurant, which was a new venture for Big Boy Restaurants, opened last summer in the McKinley Towne Centre — which also houses retailers like FedEx, Tomukun Noodle Bar and Lab Cafe. According to David Crawford, senior vice president of marketing for Big Boy Restaurants, increased competition as well changes in the summer population of Ann Arbor were major influences in the company’s closure.

Crawford said that while there were various reasons the business closed, the most prominent was that it was difficult to devote the attention necessary to @burger with such a large number of Big Boy Restaurants to attend to.

“I think a big (reason) is that we have 140 Big Boys, and so our focus is really tight now on the Big Boy chain,” Crawford said. “There were some lessons we got out of the chain, but again, our focus remains Big Boy so we wanted to make sure that was front and center.”

Crawford added another significant reason for the decision to close the business involved decreased sales and increased competition from other restaurants.

“The chain did increase some increased competition that we didn’t see when we first opened — this was the Five Guys that was built on State (Street) in our "burger proximity" if you will — within half a block,” Crawford said.

Additionally, Crawford said the significant decline in the student population at the end of the winter semester and the beginning of spring semester also contributed heavily to a decline in sales, which prompted the decision.

“I didn’t expect such a noticeable drop off from students when the students left for the summer,” Crawford said.

Crawford added that sales had been significantly higher during the fall semester, before Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened on State Street.

“We had probably done double the sales volume … during the football season and then when winter came we had a noticeable drop-off, just because I think people don’t get out and walk as much,” Crawford said.

Though the company intends to use some of the menu items from the @burger restaurant, there are no plans to open a similar restaurant in the future, Crawford said.

“There is some great burger research that we did for that chain that we’ll start to utilize in our Big Boy business,” he said.

However, while the @burger brand has been retired indefinitely, Crawford said there is still possibility for the opening of a Big Boy restaurant in Ann Arbor.

“I love Ann Arbor, in terms of community and the lower unemployment rate and just the general culture of the city is just perfectly suited for us,” he said.

Thomas Gritter, vice president and managing director of commercial real estate at the McKinley Towne Centre, echoed Crawford’s sentiment that competition from neighboring restaurants played a major role in @burger’s demise.

Gritter also said he believed one of the reasons that contributed to the decision to close @burger was the novelty of the concept for the company.

“I think they saw the next generation of burger joints and wanted to see if that was a brand they could do well with,” Gritter said. “(We) gave them a shot, and we believed in them and it just didn’t work.”

Gritter explained there has already been interest in leasing the location where @burger was located due to the equity in distance from both Downtown Ann Arbor and Central Campus.

“We’ve had a lot of interest already, calls have been off the hook already since (the closing) with interest for that spot,” Gritter said. “There have been some national restaurants that have been interested.”

While Gritter said it’s hard to gauge whether the next leaser will be successful, he has high hopes for the location.

“It’s a very in-demand spot,” Gritter said.