PICKENS COUNTY — A change in Domino’s Pizza ownership in Liberty, Pickens and Clemson has inadvertently closed those businesses, a spokesperson with the company said.

“It’s just temporary,” Tim McIntyre, vice-president of communication for Domino’s Pizza World Resource Center, said. “The new owners are itching to get the stores open and running again.”

A dispute over taxes between the previous owners of four to six of the businesses located in the Upstate and South Carolina revenue officials resulted in new franchise operators being unable to obtain a business license, thus the temporary shutdown of the businesses, he said.

“What happened is the transfer of ownership – with new owners or operators coming in – being delayed in getting their operating licenses due to a tax issue related to the previous owners,” McIntyre said. “The state is balking at giving a business license to these stores.”

While the tax debate continues between South Carolina and the previous Domino’s owners, those recently buying into the franchise are finding themselves ready to operate without being able to do so, he said.

“The state is viewing this as a location matter, and rather then dealing with former owners, they are looking at the current ones,” he said. “They are seeing the location, not the owner.

“We are hoping they will deal with the previous owners separately,” he said.

McIntyre said that had it not been for the delay in obtaining a business license, customers and the community would not have notice the change in ownership.

“If it wasn’t for this hitch, no one would have realized the change-over,” he said. “It usually is a smooth change.”

The former owners of the Liberty, Pickens and Clemson locations are still franchise owners within the company, and the company does not believe the tax issues are the reasons behind the ownership change, McIntyre said.

“People sell for a variety of reasons,” he said. “We have 1,200 independent operators in the United States running 5,000 stores,” with owners selling due to retirement or just downsizing.

“Some owners feel that maybe they can operate three stores better than they can operate 10 stores,” he said. “There’s a number of reasons for an ownership change.”

The corporate headquarters of the pizza business, founded in 1960 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is working state government officials to resolve the issue, McIntyre said.

“These stores just need to be open,” he said. “We have owners wanting to get those stores opened, and we have employees needing to get back to work.

“We really need these stores operating soon,” he said. “I just don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

The temporary closings of the local pizza businesses did not affect the Easley Domino’s location.