What's up with the Chicken Pie Shop? Here's what we know

Grandmarie's Chicken Pie Shop is a hot topic of conversation these days.

The Tower District iconic restaurant appears to be for sale, and an online fundraising campaign encourages donors to help the "family business of 61 years to keep on rollin!"

The restaurant is a favorite of many Fresnans, its green vinyl booths and chicken pot pies seemingly frozen in time. The restaurant's future, however, is a bit of a mystery.

The Chicken Pie Shop had advertised in The Bee's classifieds last week that the business was for sale — though that ad is no longer running. The listing asked for $150,000.

Restaurant spokeswoman Jerry Lopez said Tuesday that owner Gary Ross did not want to talk about a possible sale.

"Gary can't make up his mind. He doesn’t know what he wants to do," Lopez said. "I’m sure eventually it will be sold."

She declined to comment further about the business.

Then Tuesday morning a family member of the owner's posted a link to a GoFundMe campaign raising money for the restaurant with the goal of $35,000.

The post, by Rishele Ross, said:

"I am wanting to raise money to help our family business of 61 years to keep on rollin! In the past year times have been tough in tower from location to all of the construction that has been going on. We’d love to keep serving you so if we could come together as a community it would be really appreciated! We value each and everyone of our customers and this business means a lot to our family and I know to our loyal customers of years and years as well. Let’s keep on rollin!"

However, as of Wednesday, the GoFundMe campaign had been removed from the site.

This story was originally published May 15, 2018 at 9:58 AM with the headline "What's up with the Chicken Pie Shop? Here's what we know."