The Newick’s Lobster House restaurant in South Portland has closed, and its staff was laid off. A note on the door thanked customers for their patronage of the eatery, which is located at 200 Gorham Road, near The Shops at Clarks Pond and Bugaboo Creek Steak House.

Originally known as Cap’n Newick’s, the restaurant opened on Broadway in South Portland in 1976 and moved to the Maine Mall area about five years ago. The Broadway location closed in 2007 at the same time the Newick family also closed its restaurant in Merrimac, N.H.

According to the Newick’s website, the restaurant chain got its start in 1948 when John Newick, a lobsterman at Dover Point in New Hampshire, began selling lobster rolls out his kitchen window. “Locations have come and gone but our tradition . . . of great food, great service, and a comfortable atmosphere never wavered,” the company website states.

Newick’s Lobster House still has two locations, one in Dover and one in Concord, N.H. The note on the door at the South Portland restaurant indicated that any gift cards purchased could be redeemed at either of the two New Hampshire restaurants.

–Kate Irish Collins

The Newick’s Lobster House location at Maine Mall has shut its doors after about five years in business.