Dutchess County is down to two national pizza chains with the closing of Pizza Hut in the Town of Poughkeepsie.

Paper covered the windows of the restaurant at 2585 South Road Monday night, and the sign above the shop had been removed.

A sign on the door of the restaurant confirmed its closure.

"Valued Pizza Hut Customer: This Pizza Hut location is closed," the sign read. "Please visit or call our Newburgh location at 845-562-6405 for dine-in or carryout. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your business over the years. We look forward to serving you at our Newburgh location."

Why are chain restaurants leaving Dutchess?

The Newburgh restaurant is about 15 miles from the now closed location.

The Poughkeepsie location was Pizza Hut's last Dutchess County restaurant. At one time there were three, with one along Route 9 in Fishkill and another along Route 9 in Wappingers Falls.

This follows the closure of Papa John's Pizza in the City of Poughkeepsie last year.

This leaves Domino's Pizza and Little Caesars and Dutchess' last national pizza chains. Little Caesars has one Town of Poughkeepsie restaurant, and Domino's has two restaurants in the Town of Poughkeepsie, one in Hyde Park and one in Fishkill.

Of course, the county is still home to various local options for pizza and Italian food, and Giacomo's serves as a local pizza chain with five restaurants in the county.

Geoffrey Wilson: gwilson@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4882; Twitter: @GeoffWilson_

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