The first Chick-fil-A restaurant to open in Alabama nearly 50 years ago is closing.

Jerry Cotney, who owns the restaurant at Brookwood Village mall in metro Birmingham, announced the shutdown in a social media post that said the once-popular shopping venue is no longer thriving.

The restaurant opened under another owner in 1974, just seven years after Truett Cathy launched the first Chick-fil-A at a mall in metro Atlanta. The company now has more than 100 locations in Alabama, its website shows.

The Brookwood Village will close at the end of the month, Cotney said, and he hopes to open a new restaurant nearby later this year.

“Over the next couple weeks we are going to celebrate some milestones that this amazing team has accomplished. Beyond that, thank you for allowing us, for supporting us over the past four and a half decades in this community,” said Cotney.

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Travelers walk around the baggage claim in the South Terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. Atlanta is among the airports where the FAA will reduce flights due to the shutdown, and airports are facing a shortage of air traffic controllers. 
(Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez