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Founder Roy Pelaez says rising expenses and more cautious customers forced the homegrown chain down to four locations

Island Empanada, one of Long Island’s first restaurants devoted entirely to empanadas, is getting smaller.

The chain closed its company-owned Rocky Point store for good on Sept. 8, just after Labor Day. Its Shirley location, which a franchisee has run, closes permanently at the end of business on Wednesday.

The Torres family, which runs the Shirley franchise, announced the closing Wednesday in a post on the “Shirley and the Mastics” community Facebook group. The family said the restaurant would stay open until its last empanadas sold out.

In the post, the family thanked customers, staff and the surrounding community, and said their support had turned the restaurant into “a true home over the years.”