A Bluffton restaurant closed for the summer. Now there’s a for-sale sign out front

An Old Town Bluffton restaurant that closed for the summer with plans of reopening in the fall now has a for-sale sign out front.

Red Fish Bluffton — located at 32 Bruin Road — closed its doors for the summer in response to what the owners said at the time was the workforce shortage affecting many Beaufort County businesses. A for-sale sign can now be seen at front of the restaurant.

A listing on loopnet.com shows the 5,199-square-foot property is for sale for $1.75 million.

Some employees were moved to sister restaurants Red Fish Hilton Head and Old Oyster Factory, according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

“We are closing for summer and will reopen in the fall. With Bluffton business being slower during the summer months and the local labor shortage impacting our sister restaurants, Old Oyster Factory and Red Fish Hilton head, this will enable us to move employees so we will be adequately staffed during the peak summer months on the island,” the post said.

The restaurant is known for specializing in Lowcountry seafood, steaks and fresh local produce.

“Our plan was to open in the fall,” the restaurant’s marketing director Katie Manley previously told The Island Packet. “Bluffton gets busier in the fall and winter than we are on the island.”

After being contacted by the newspaper via several phone calls, Manley emailed a reporter Wednesday saying she did not have an update on the possibility of the restaurant reopening.

When asked last month about the for-sale sign in front of the building, Manley said, “Everything is for sale for the right price.”

She declined to say how many employees had been moved to the Hilton Head location and how many were laid off when the Bluffton restaurant closed.

She said that, if the restaurant reopens, it might “tweak” its menu and concept.