Major Retail Chains That "Skipped" Your Area, Past or Present?

[jakeroot]

Washington State, being in the upper corner, has some missing entries:

* BP left the state around 2002;
* There are no TGI Fridays or Chili's;
* Cracker Barrel has never had a restaurant here, no plans to open one either;
* Sam's Club formerly had stores here but they have all closed;
* None of the stuff like White Castle, Rallys/Checkers, Waffle House, Texas Roadhouse (except one on JBLM);
* As mentioned before, all Dunkin Donuts closed by the early 2000s;
* No Tim Hortons despite proximity to Vancouver/Canada in general (although we do have Boston Pizza).

[hbelkins]

Costco has no presence in Arkansas other than Little Rock.  Guess the NW corner needs to grow a little more in population and wealth.

That's enemy territory for Costco.

[Brandon]

Costco has no presence in Arkansas other than Little Rock.  Guess the NW corner needs to grow a little more in population and wealth.

Might be more due to Walmart home base.  I've also noticed a dearth of Sam's Clubs in the Seattle area.

[jp the roadgeek]

Another chain that tried to move into New England but gave up even as it expands elsewhere is Wawa. I think they cited expense and strong competition ( a common theme).

Wawa was in CT for a while as late as the 1990's.  The problem is none of them had gas stations, and were more like the Wawa's you might see in Center City, only even more outdated with not much of a selection of on the go food and drinks (which even the Center City ones have).  Most of the locations became Krauszer's about 25 years ago, though one in New Britain on the edge of the CCSU campus is an independent store.

[iowahighways]

7-Eleven doesn't have any stores in Iowa anymore. Their locations around Cedar Rapids and Davenport were sold to Kwik Shop (then owned by Kroger) in 1988, and the last ones in the Des Moines area were sold to Kum & Go in the late 1990s. They briefly had a store in Bettendorf in the mid-2010s but it was demolished to make room for a Kwik Star. Nowadays, Iowans would have to go to the Illinois Quad Cities, Madison, or Kansas City to get a free Slurpee on July 11.

[Bruce]

Costco has no presence in Arkansas other than Little Rock.  Guess the NW corner needs to grow a little more in population and wealth.

Might be more due to Walmart home base.  I've also noticed a dearth of Sam's Clubs in the Seattle area.

Sam's Club had 2 warehouses in the Seattle area until 2018. Their North Seattle store is actually being turned into a new Costco (only the second one in the city proper), despite being only 4 miles from another Costco in Shoreline.

[kphoger]

Washington State, being in the upper corner, has some missing entries:

* There are no ... Chili's

Wow, that's so weird because Chili's is everywhere.

Oh wait, I guess there is one in Washington.  Just one.  https://goo.gl/maps/XcpmCqfcuGBvMs296

[jakeroot]

Washington State, being in the upper corner, has some missing entries:

* There are no ... Chili's

Wow, that's so weird because Chili's is everywhere.

Oh wait, I guess there is one in Washington.  Just one.  https://goo.gl/maps/XcpmCqfcuGBvMs296

Did not know about that one! I'll have to check it out next time I'm in Spokane. For the novelty...of visiting Chilis.

[hbelkins]

Is the number of Walmart locations in Vermont still in single-figures?

I was in the one in Rutland years ago. That's a weird setup. It's located downtown and not exactly on the main drag through town (US 7).

[roadman65]

I always thought of Dunkin as a competitor of Krispy Kreme, not Starbucks.

I'm in the area that has both donut places.

As people have become more carb conscious, Dunkin has emphasized coffee a lot more and donuts less. The Dunkins around here have drive thru lines backed up into the streets in the mornings.

Indeed. The one near my office has shrunk the donut selection to a relatively small glass case while the coffee bar (not an exaggeration) is there for all to watch their specialty brew being made.

Dunkin's in my home town of Clark, NJ used to have counter service.  In fact a few did in NJ.  That is when it started.  And then shunning the 24/7 concept even well before Covid.

[ftballfan]

Kroger is big in the east side of Michigan (basically east of a line from Midland to Sturgis) but is completely nonexistent west of that line. In a somewhat related note, SpartanNash (based in Grand Rapids and operating mostly as Family Fare) are big west of that line but have few stores east of it.

[formulanone]

Washington State, being in the upper corner, has some missing entries:

* There are no ... Chili's

Wow, that's so weird because Chili's is everywhere.

Oh wait, I guess there is one in Washington.  Just one.  https://goo.gl/maps/XcpmCqfcuGBvMs296

Did not know about that one! I'll have to check it out next time I'm in Spokane. For the novelty...of visiting Chilis.

That explains why my cousins want to go to Chili's when they visit us...I also just assumed they were in pretty much every medium-sized city.

Costco has no presence in Arkansas other than Little Rock.  Guess the NW corner needs to grow a little more in population and wealth.

That's enemy territory for Costco.

Sort of how there's comparatively few Wal-Marts in Minneapolis, the home of Target.

[jakeroot]

Washington State, being in the upper corner, has some missing entries:

* There are no ... Chili's

Wow, that's so weird because Chili's is everywhere.

Oh wait, I guess there is one in Washington.  Just one.  https://goo.gl/maps/XcpmCqfcuGBvMs296

Did not know about that one! I'll have to check it out next time I'm in Spokane. For the novelty...of visiting Chilis.

That explains why my cousins want to go to Chili's when they visit us...I also just assumed they were in pretty much every medium-sized city.

Them and TGI Fridays both existed for a long time, but both left Washington in the late 2000s. TGI Fridays was owned by a single franchisee, who apparently went bankrupt. Chili's just dwindled to nothing (this one in Bellevue is the only one I can remember, outside the single Spokane location and one at Sea-Tac Airport that closed a while ago).

[abefroman329]

That reminds me, the only Macaroni Grill in Chicagoland is at O'Hare.

[kphoger]

That reminds me, the only Macaroni Grill in Chicagoland is at O'Hare.

Whoa!  When did the one at Danada Square (Wheaton) close?

I see Illinois isn't even listed as one of the states to choose from on their website.

[abefroman329]

That reminds me, the only Macaroni Grill in Chicagoland is at O'Hare.

Whoa!  When did the one at Danada Square (Wheaton) close?

Don't know, I don't get out to Wheaton very often

I see Illinois isn't even listed as one of the states to choose from on their website.

Now THIS is an interesting rabbit hole I went down.  O'Hare's website says it's open:

https://www.flychicago.com/ohare/eatshopmore/eat/pages/default.aspx?filteramenityid=126&filteramenityname=Macaroni%20Grill%20%20&filterlocation=K2

If you go to the Macaroni Grill website, click Locations, and then View All Locations, you can click Illinois, and there's the O'Hare location:

https://www.macaronigrill.com/locations/all-locations#illinois

And THAT says the location is open from 11 am to 7 pm, but then if you click More Information, it says it's temporarily closed:

https://www.macaronigrill.com/locations/location?id=2239

And the menu isn't on the website, but they serve (served?) breakfast there.  As I recall, it was basically chicken parm with scrambled eggs on a bed of potatoes, and it wasn't bad.

[kkt]

Folks from the Northeast are a little surprised that Dunkin' Donuts didn't make it the Huntsville area until 2014, around the time Cracker Barrel was starting to become a novelty in those parts.

I find it much more surprising that they don't have much of a presence in the PNW. I guess I think of them as more of a northern chain, so the Deep South would be below that on the list of places I'd expect them to be.

I'm not surprised about the lack of a PNW presence for Dunkin, considering they're (especially Seattle) Starbuck's home turf.

There used to be a Dunkin Donuts in Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle in the 80s.  I'm not sure exactly when it left.

[jakeroot]

Folks from the Northeast are a little surprised that Dunkin' Donuts didn't make it the Huntsville area until 2014, around the time Cracker Barrel was starting to become a novelty in those parts.

I find it much more surprising that they don't have much of a presence in the PNW. I guess I think of them as more of a northern chain, so the Deep South would be below that on the list of places I'd expect them to be.

I'm not surprised about the lack of a PNW presence for Dunkin, considering they're (especially Seattle) Starbuck's home turf.

There used to be a Dunkin Donuts in Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle in the 80s.  I'm not sure exactly when it left.

I bet Dunkin would do pretty well these days. I don't think everyone is obsessed with Starbucks like they were [may have been] before.

[hbelkins]

Trying to find an appropriate thread in which to post this observation, and settled on this one after doing a general search for "Publix" on the forum's home page.

Last night, I saw a Publix 18-wheeler traveling south on KY 15 at the Breathitt-Perry county line. I mentioned it on Facebook and a friend said he's also seen a Publix truck on 15, as well as the Hal Rogers Parkway between Hazard and Hyden.

I know Publix is planning on expanding into Kentucky -- Louisville and possibly Lexington -- but I wondered why their trucks were in mountainous southeastern Kentucky, three hours from Louisville.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Shake Shack is finally opening a location in Richmond after they opened multiple locations in the DC, Raleigh, and Hampton Roads areas.

Publix recently opened a store in the Outer Banks, which is dominated by Food Lion stores (although there is one Harris Teeter and one Walmart). It doesn't have a pharmacy like most other Publix locations, though.

[hbelkins]

Shake Shack is finally opening a location in Richmond after they opened multiple locations in the DC, Raleigh, and Hampton Roads areas.

Publix recently opened a store in the Outer Banks, which is dominated by Food Lion stores (although there is one Harris Teeter and one Walmart). It doesn't have a pharmacy like most other Publix locations, though.

This might be a better post for the "chains defunct in your area" thread, but Food Lion had a rather unsuccessful foray into Kentucky 30 or so years ago. The one I remember best was in Morehead. It's long gone.

[XamotCGC]

Shake Shack is finally opening a location in Richmond after they opened multiple locations in the DC, Raleigh, and Hampton Roads areas.

Publix recently opened a store in the Outer Banks, which is dominated by Food Lion stores (although there is one Harris Teeter and one Walmart). It doesn't have a pharmacy like most other Publix locations, though.

This might be a better post for the "chains defunct in your area" thread, but Food Lion had a rather unsuccessful foray into Kentucky 30 or so years ago. The one I remember best was in Morehead. It's long gone.

I remember there being a Food Lion in Danville and Campbellsvile.

[Takumi]

Shake Shack is finally opening a location in Richmond after they opened multiple locations in the DC, Raleigh, and Hampton Roads areas.

Publix recently opened a store in the Outer Banks, which is dominated by Food Lion stores (although there is one Harris Teeter and one Walmart). It doesn't have a pharmacy like most other Publix locations, though.

This might be a better post for the "chains defunct in your area" thread, but Food Lion had a rather unsuccessful foray into Kentucky 30 or so years ago. The one I remember best was in Morehead. It's long gone.

They had a brief semi-national expansion in the 1990s, but some negative national press caused that to collapse.

[Flint1979]

Waffle House until very recently didn't have much of a presence in the Houston area. Even so, outside of the suburbs, it still isn't much of a thing (I've never been). Huddle House is non-existent.

I know that Houston had Waffle House's in 2014 because that was the last time I was in Houston and I was with a friend of mine who was drunk at 5am and we went into a Waffle House, the waitress asked us what we wanted to drink and I ordered a pop or something and my friend as drunk as could be said I'll have a cranberry vodka, she said I'm sorry we don't serve that here sir, then my friend said well in that case I'll just have a water. I just laughed, he was dead serious.

[Dirt Roads]

Publix recently opened a store in the Outer Banks, which is dominated by Food Lion stores (although there is one Harris Teeter and one Walmart). It doesn't have a pharmacy like most other Publix locations, though.

Publix expanded onto the Bogue Banks a few years ago by building next door to the old Food Lion in Emerald Isle.  That old store has been spruced up a few times since then, as well as the rest of the Emerald Plantation podmall.