OCEAN CITY, Md.- Over six and a half decades of serving what some call the best crabs and seafood in Ocean City.
In a statement to WRDE Tuesday, CEO Steve Phillips said growth has caused the company to shift focuses.
As our family has grown, so have our business interests, and we're investing more and more into other areas outside the restaurant industry now.
While Phillips called the move extremely difficult, the closure comes with gratitude.
A Facebook post reads in part:
Our family feels so fortunate to have earned the loyalty of our guests, who came back year after year to build their vacation memories with us. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of our story.
For the many people who live and visit in Ocean City, Phillips Crab House was a go-to restaurant. It was for Justin Willmuth and he remembers his first visit to the restaurant.
"I remember my first time to the Phillips you know we ate downstairs at the restaurant when we came up here for vacation back in 1990 and I had the blue crabs for the first time and they were good," Willmuth said. "Then when I found out about the buffet, I started going to the buffet and it was excellent."
Larry Magee of Berlin was shocked when he heard the popular seafood house was closing its doors.
"It's pretty wild," Magee said. "It's been around forever it seems like. When I was little we would go there with about 13 to 15 people and wait in big lines. I never worked there. I had some friends that worked there and some that boarded and worked in there. I mean all good things come to an end."
 In the same statement, Phillips stated that the company is committed to the Baltimore restaurant, the culinary center, and the growth of all of its franchises, retail, and other business. There has been no information who will buy the property and what the new owners will do with it or when.Â