photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Buffalo Wild Wings location near 27th and Iowa streets in Lawrence is pictured on May 4, 2026.

With activity among Lawrence chicken wing restaurants heating up, a large chain has taken flight from the city.

Buffalo Wild Wings closed its restaurant on Iowa Street, its only location in Lawrence, at the end of business on Sunday. While there was no sign at the restaurant announcing the closing, a manager who met a Journal-World reporter at the door on Monday confirmed the closing, which had been rumored since Friday when several employees began discussing a pending closing.

The manager didn’t provide any information about why the chain shut down the restaurant at 2624 Iowa St., but it does come at a time when some other chicken wing businesses either are coming to town or expanding.

As we have reported, the popular Lawrence-based restaurant chain Jefferson’s has opened a wing-oriented restaurant to go with its two other full-service restaurants in town. Earlier this year the company opened WingStand by Jefferson’s at 935 Iowa St. in a portion of the building that formerly housed Leeway Franks. The small restaurant expands upon Jefferson’s wing menu, offering about 20 different sauce options.

Then there is the movement underway at WingStop, a national chain that has had a small restaurant at 23rd and Louisiana streets. As we reported in December, the chain is moving into a much higher profile spot at 23rd and Iowa streets. It is moving into a portion of the building that formerly housed the CiCi’s Pizza buffet.

If you are keeping track at home, that puts WingStop just down the hill from KU’s Daisy Hill student dormitory complex, making it several blocks closer to that wing-eating audience than Buffalo Wild Wings.

As for the bigger picture surrounding Buffalo Wild Wings, industry publications have reported that it has been a mixed bag for the company recently. The Atlanta-based company in 2025 posted growth of about 60% in the number of Buffalo Wild Wings Go locations, which are small storefronts focused on takeout and delivery.

Its traditional sports bar locations, however, shrunk in number in 2025. The company closed 16 corporate-owned sports bar locations, according to a recent report in the industry publication Restaurant Business.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Buffalo Wild Wings location near 27th and Iowa streets in Lawrence is pictured on May 4, 2026.

The Lawrence location that closed was a traditional sports bar location. As for whether Buffalo Wild Wings might make a return to Lawrence through the smaller takeout concept, that isn’t clear, although Restaurant Business reports the company does plan to open more than 90 of the BWW Go locations in 2026.

Regardless, the closing marks the end of a long run for the restaurant. Buffalo Wild Wings first came to Lawrence with a location on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence. The company, though, complained of parking problems for its customers on game days and other similar issues, and moved to its Iowa Street location in late 2014.

No word yet on what, if anything, is slated to go into the Buffalo Wild Wings building, which is basically catty-corner from the Dick’s Sporting Goods/Boot Barn/Ulta Beauty shopping complex. Thus far, finding tenants to fill former sit-down chain restaurant locations on Iowa Street has been a difficult task. There currently are two that have been vacant for quite a while — the former Applebee’s location about a two blocks north of the BWW site, and the former On the Border Mexican restaurant, which is about four blocks south of the BWW location.