McDonald’s Renovates to Mixed Reviews

The Reading McDonald’s, at 413 Main St. for over 60 years, was recently renovated.

Student opinion seems split about the McDonald’s on 413 Main Street, located in downtown Reading, which recently received massive renovations and changes.

The McDonalds franchise is a staple of the Reading center of town. In the middle of April of 2024, the  building was completely torn down. The main goal of this project was to improve upon parking and traffic flow in the drive through, as well as to modernize the appearance of the restaurant. 

At the end of this past August, the McDonald’s reopened to the public with a new look, and many changes. The playground in the front of the building was taken out and replaced with a section of the new drive through. Additionally, the architecture style of the new building is much more present day look and simplistic than the traditional style of the old building. These changes created buzz among the students of RMHS.

On one hand, some students believe that the renovation was a much needed change to the center of town. One individual, RMHS senior Matias Silveira, said, “It had good things and bad things, but I think it was overall a good change.” He was also quite happy with the speed at which it was built, taking only four and a half months to reopen. 

On the contrary, students like Sean Schneeberg (‘25) and Liam Benson (‘25) have a general displeasure with the changes that were made. Schneeberg’s biggest issue was that “they got rid of the whole back area” inside the restaurant (referring to a large group of tables that are no longer available), and there is “just a lot less space.” He also offered his belief that the $2 million budget was not justified, saying “It’s kind of an outrageous amount of money for a downgraded McDonalds.” 

Benson expressed dissatisfaction with the design of the new building, saying that it’s “an eye sore and I can’t stand it.” When asked what he thought of the interior, he stated that he didn’t even go inside because he “saw it and just didn’t want to go in.” This suggests that the new design is going as far as driving off possible customers. 

The McDonald’s franchise has been running their restaurant on 413 Main Street since 1963. According to the Reading Chronicle, this McDonalds was one of the first 10 ever established in Massachusetts. Compared to the 234 locations in the state now, the building holds a great deal of history, and will continue to create its own new history in the future.