Famous for burgers and malts, St. Paul's beloved St. Clair Broiler will close

A long-standing St. Paul neighborhood institution will shutter its doors after more than 60 years in the business.

The St. Clair Broiler announced on Monday that it would close at the end of the month, citing financial woes.

"Today's economics make it prohibitive to operate an independent neighborhood restaurant offering quality cuisine at a price point low enough to attract the number of customers needed to be profitable," owner Charlie Theros said in a prepared statement. "Instead of throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into needed upgrades to the space and completely change the concept, we have made the difficult decision to close."

The Macalester-Groveland neighborhood restaurant, known for its open-flame broiled hamburgers, malts and a Friday fish fry, was founded by brothers John and George Boosalis in 1956 and later sold to Jimmy Theros, who passed the business down to his cousin (also named Jimmy) and son, Charlie, in 2006.

St. Clair Broiler will serve its last meal on Sept. 30.

The Theroses also own Rudolph's Bar-B-Que in Minneapolis.