On March 15 Pacific Fastfood Associates LLC which does business as Burger King Guam; will close its location at the Barrigada Shell station.

Rudolph K. Rudolfo managing director of Pacific Fastfood; said the franchise agreement was up and rather than re-signing a five- to 10-year agreement Burger King would look for a new location in HagÅtña "" "a better location in the area to serve the customers".

Rudolfo could not say when the HagÅtña location was expected to open.

He also said plans to open a Tumon Burger King location were still being worked out. In an earlier edition of the Journal (See "’Have it your Way’ Burger King meals available in Tumon in 2006") it was reported that Burger King would open a Tumon location across from the Tumon Sands Plaza adjacent to the Guam Police Department’s Tumon precinct.

"We would like to service the lower Tumon area because there are lots of tourists there and people work in the area " Rudolfo said.

The Tumon restaurant will be a full-size store at 2 000 square feet with a drive-through facility and will be open 24 hours. Burger King’s other locations on Guam are in Upper Tumon the Micronesian Mall the A.B. Won Pat International Airport Guam and Guam Premier Outlets.

Rudolfo had originally told the Journal that the Tumon location was awaiting permitting approvals. "It is in the planning stages. We have some conceptual drawings already." He said the design would allow for a continuous sidewalk for the ease of pedestrians."

Eloy S. Lizama finance manager for Shell Guam Inc.; told the Journal that Shell would be looking for a new food offering to fill the void left by Burger King.

"It’s logistics. First we need to find a restaurant that is interested. Then it’s a matter of the restaurant being able to deal with the space there " Lizama said.

Frederick "Fred" P. Keller retail manager for Shell; said "We’re going to go to the market looking for another type of fast food business."

"We’ve had a great relationship with Burger King over the last 10 years and we will continue that relationship on the promotional side " Keller said.

Marcos W. Fong managing director of Nakicos Corp. which does business as Subway; told the Journal Shell had approached Subway about the space but because Subway already had a Barrigada location it was not looking to open a location at the Shell station. MBJ