You may have noticed the Ashwaubenon IHOP in front of the Bay Square Mall sitting abandoned like some B movie house of horrors reject. A far cry from the crowded parking lot on Saturday and Sunday mornings when it garnered some decent business.

If you want an International House Of Pancakes experience, you’ll now have to drive down the road to the former Applebees, where the two restaurants now share the same roof.

It’s as if the IHOP dropped out of college and had to move back in with its parents.

The move hasn’t been well received by anyone I’ve spoken to over the past couple of weeks. I’m a Green Bay bus rider, and cars will zoom in front of the empty building and read the signs. Often they’ll roll past me to verify that their breakfast plans aren’t dashed. I’ll tell them of the change and they’ll usually pan the change before discussing if they should go somewhere else.

Parent company Dine Brands should know they haven’t done Ashwaubenon any favors.

In addition to the inconvenience to the customers of the previous IHOP location, their hybrid concept is obviously a cost cutting measure. Two restaurants under one roof is less expensive than one.

And it’s made the Bay Park Square Mall look bad. Now they have a secondary anchor on their location sitting empty. It’s become a popular place to loiter, and the rear of the building an even more popular place to hide out of sight for those who don’t want to be spotted by anyone. These individuals aren’t doing Bible study. I can tell you that.

Let’s hope that location gets filled quickly. But the new Applebees IHOP has broken a lot of eggs to get its ill received Bourbon Street flavored omelette of commercial real estate cost cutting.