The Trolly Stop hot dog restaurant on North Front Street has closed, but the owner of the eatery’s growing franchise company said Monday that he hopes to find a new location in downtown Wilmington.

The closing involved the downtown franchisee's lease, said Rick Coombs, owner of the Trolly Stop franchise company, and does not affect other Trolly Stop locations in the Wilmington area.

Coombs said he wished the franchisee had alerted him earlier that the downtown location, 121 N. Front St., would be closing. As of Monday, the space had been leased to another business, he said.

“We had a niche [in the downtown market with that location], and unfortunately, we’re going to have to start from square one all over again, but we’ll be back. The goal is to be back downtown,” said Coombs, a resident of downtown Wilmington who with his wife, JoDeane Coombs, bought Trolly Stop in 1996 when the eatery had one location in Wrightsville Beach.

The first Trolly Stop opened in 1976 where the restaurant is still open today at 94 S. Lumina Avenue, Wrightsville Beach. Ron and Winnie Kreuger bought the first Trolly Stop, called Station 1 because of its spot along the beach town's former trolley route, from B.C. Hedgepeth around 1977 and operated it for 19 years before selling it to the Coombs, according to the restaurant's website.

Today, Trolly Stop also has locations at 4502 Fountain Drive, Wilmington; 111 S. Howe St., Southport; and 784 W. King St., Boone.

Later this month, around Feb. 20, the company is opening a Trolly Stop at 306-B W. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill, said Coombs.

The Coombs opened the downtown Trolly Stop at 121 N. Front St. in 1999. The downtown Trolly Stop’s Facebook page says that Jan. 31 was its last day of business in the 2,000-square-foot space.

“I am personally saddened to lose the downtown store because that was my own and my wife’s blood, sweat and tears,” said Coombs, whose wife died in 2005.