Naked Pizza has closed its Lexington store, less than a year after it opened, but may be eyeing other areas of the city.

"It's unfortunate. People loved it, but we didn't quite have enough support," franchisee David Lawyer said.

The company, based in New Orleans, is known for its health-conscious pizzas, proclaiming that it serves food with no artificial additives or preservatives.

"It's so hard to compete," Lawyer said. "Even though there's nutritionally no comparison, it's hard to compete with Papa John's, Domino's and Little Caesars."

Lawyer also cited the lack of businesses near him at The Lex, which has a number of vacant retail storefronts and just a Subway restaurant and a Shenanigans liquor store in operation.

"We were anticipating The Lex to fill up their retail, and they weren't able to lease any more space," Lawyer said. "We were kind of counting on some synergies with being full."

A representative of The Lex did not return a call for comment.

The Naked Pizza was open from January to October. The chain's nearest store is Cincinnati, near the Rookwood Commons Shopping Center.

Lawyer said he's thinking about reopening in another section of town, saying that the customer demographics are ideal for stores along Man o' War Boulevard at Hamburg, on Tates Creek Road, and in the Palomar area at Harrodsburg Road.

"I'm just kind of taking a wait-and-see approach," he said. "I'd like to have more like-minded investors to really capitalize the thing."