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Bay Shore’s South Shore Mall appears to be getting a spicy new tenant.
A new Chick-fil-A restaurant is being planned for a 1.5-acre pad site at 1725 Sunrise Highway, where a shuttered TGI Fridays currently sits, according to a report in Long Island Business News.
The popular fast-food chain has signed a ground lease for the property and plans to demolish the former Fridays to make way for a 5,500-square-foot Chick-fil-A with two drive-thru lanes, LIBN is reporting.
Chick-fil-A has been steadily expanding across Long Island in recent years.
Once open, the Bay Shore location will join more than a dozen others in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Just last month, a Chick-fil-A location opened in East Meadow. Another location in Lake Ronkonkoma is expected to open in summer 2026 at Lake Shore Plaza, taking over space previously occupied by Weight Watchers.
The TGI Fridays at South Shore Mall was one of three underperforming Long Island restaurants the chain closed just after New Year’s Day, along with spots in Islandia and Massapequa. The company filed for bankruptcy in November 2024 and now operates just two locations on Long Island — in Central Islip and Valley Stream.
After the closure, Greater Long Island asked the locals what they’d most like to see come to the Fridays spot. Overwhelmingly, the Greater Bay Shore area voted for a Cracker Barrel.
The Chick-fil-A project still needs approvals from the Town of Islip, so there’s no official opening date yet, LIBN reports.
Chick-fil-A made its debut on Long Island in 2015 with the opening of its Port Jefferson Station store at 5184 Nesconset Highway.
