The lighted signs came down Monday and by Tuesday afternoon there were almost no signs of life at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant on West Floyd Baker Boulevard with just one exception.

A moving van was parked beside the eatery's kitchen entrance and an employee was carting out boxes of supplies.

While it's not uncommon for chain restaurants to change locations or to weed out underperforming stores, the closure of the local Ruby Tuesday was being attributed to something else.

"During these difficult economic times, sales at that particular location have declined to a level that makes it impossible to continue to operate it," Ruby Tuesday spokeswoman Sandi Stablein said Monday.

Ruby Tuesday became the third major brand eatery to shutter on West Floyd Baker Boulevard this year, following the February closure of Ryan's Steakhouse and the May closure of the local Bruster's Ice Cream stand.

Stablein said the West Floyd Baker Boulevard location of Ruby Tuesday employed about 35 to 45 full- and parttime workers. Some will be given opportunities to move to other locations and some will be given severance, she said. The closest Ruby Tuesday is 14 miles away in Spartanburg.

Stablein couldn't say if the lack of business at the Gaffney location was a recent problem, or something longer term.

Tennessee-based Ruby Tuesday Inc., which owns or franchises more than 700 locations, has been facing more challenging times of late. According to its most recent quarterly financial fil- ing for the three-month period ending in early September, the company's revenues were off by about $20 million compared to the same period of 2007 while it's net income was down to just $285,000, compared to $11.9 million for the same time period last year.

Location doesn't seem to be an issue in the local closure and Ruby Tuesday doesn't appear to be alone.

"This is the most challenging economic situation for restaurants in nearly 20 years," said Maureen Ryan, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., which is a trade group for restaurant owners and operators nationwide. "What we're hearing, the majority of operators are continuing to report sales and traffic decline."

The restaurant association publishes a restaurant index each month, which is an economic measure of the health of the industry. The latest report released earlier this month shows an industry that's continuing to contract since the latter half of 2007.

"Restaurant spending is closely tied to consumers' disposable incomes," Ryan said. "The more they have in their pocket, the more they're likely to spend in restaurants."

Historically, fine dining tends to be more hard hit during downturns in the economy. But Ryan said she couldn't say one restaurant segment is doing better or worse than others. "Pretty much restaurants across the board are impacted (today)."

Ruby Tuesday, Ryan's and Bruster's are not the only eateries to shutter on Floyd Baker this year. The locally owned Lighthouse restaurant closed its doors earlier this year and was replaced by a seafood restaurant called Captain Jack's that remained open for just a few weeks.