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

[thenetwork]

I used to live in Northern Ohio, but I still frequent FB sites from that area, especially "memories" groups.

One topic that recently came up there was what major chains in their past or current heyday completely ignore a region, yet they have/had locations surrounding the region?

As far as the Cleveland, Ohio area, Montgomery Wards never had anchor stores at any of the area malls.  The closest big box locations were in Akron, Canton and Toledo.

Currently, you will never see a grocery store in the Cleveland that either is, or is related to, Kroger.  Pretty much, the unions drove them out in the early-mid 80s, never to return.   Prior to that they were everywhere in NEOH, just like the rest of the region.

Other glaring retail omissions in your area? 

Please don't include newer chains that are slowly expanding nationwide.

[SkyPesos]

A lot of convenience store/gas station chains don't exist in the Cincinnati area, but do in surrounding cities. Most notable is the Phillips 66/76 brand, which exists in all surrounding areas around the Cincinnati metro area. Others include 7-11 and Sheetz. To "make up"  for it, we do have a local chain that's big here: UDF, so maybe that have something to do with it.

Kroger and all its chains are also missing in the St Louis area, which have the local Schnucks and Dierbergs instead.

[NWI_Irish96]

Nearly all the BPs disappeared from the Louisville area, most becoming Shells, sometime around 2010.

[jp the roadgeek]

Speedway: Plentiful in MA and NY; nonexistent in CT.

Ross: Closest one is in NJ

Hardee's/Carl's Jr:  Made it as far north as the Hudson Valley, then retreated to DE

Jimmy John's:  Just opened one in Norwalk.  Few in the Boston area but that's it.

Wawa: Pulled out when they focused on gas stations with their stores.

Albertson's owned supermarkets: Shaw's pulled out in 2010.  There are a few Acme stores in lower Fairfield County, but the nearest Shaw's is in the Worcester area.

Waffle House and Cici's: Neither north of PA

Whole Foods in my immediate area: There is a distribution center about 7 minutes from me.  Nearest store locations are 25-30 minutes away.

[kevinb1994]

Macy's, but there are historical reasons why.

[iowahighways]

Macy’s, but there are historical reasons why.

Famous-Barr, which would become Macy's, had a store in Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines in the early 2000s and planned one at Jordan Creek Town Center, but both stores were sold to Younkers -- which went out of business in 2018. Iowa still has no Macy's stores.

Iowa had no Five Guys restaurants as late as 2016, when the one in West Des Moines opened, although there was a short-lived Five Guys in Sioux City in 2012.

[vdeane]

Wegmans skipped over virtually all of upstate NY northeast of Binghamton/Syracuse.  It's especially glaring now that there are stores downstate around NYC and around Boston in neighboring MA.  At least the downstate stores still feel somewhat natural given the distribution of stores in NJ and PA, but the MA stores are an island.  They keep claiming upstate NY "doesn't have the right demographics" but then they'll go and open one in Lancaster, PA (there's also the one in Hornell, but that was built before the shift away from just being a regular grocery store, albeit a very good one).  They also used to say they hate the business climate in NY, but the downstate stores disprove that reason too.  There was supposedly a deal with one of the Capital District grocery stores (most people say Price Chopper/Market 32), but wouldn't that be void now that Price Chopper exists in Syracuse, especially since they now own Tops and therefore overlap completely with the Wegmans upstate NY coverage area?

[Flint1979]

Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.

[1995hoo]

We've never had Kroger in the DC area (to my knowledge, anyway), but we do have a few Harris Teeter stores and Kroger owns them (I believe the stores here opened before Kroger acquired Teeter in 2013 or 2014).

[Techknow]

Walmart is not found in much of the San Francisco Peninsula, especially San Francisco. The reasons for this is well documented, and I'm not going to say something here that hasn't been said!

I was surprised where the nearest Walmart is to me. I thought there would be one in Emeryville which is north of Oakland but that is not the case at all. It's in San Leandro just south of Oakland city limits. The one nearest in the peninsula is at Mountain View, both are equally far to me

[SkyPesos]

Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.

I remember seeing another post here mention that I-70 in MO/IL/IN and I-80 in OH/PA acts as the northern border for Waffle House territory.

Also, I noticed that the general area formed by the AotS/I-35 on the west, I-64 on the south, and I-79 on the east is Fresh Thyme territory, while the rest of the country is Sprouts territory.

[webny99]

Wegmans skipped over virtually all of upstate NY northeast of Binghamton/Syracuse.  It's especially glaring now that there are stores downstate around NYC and around Boston in neighboring MA.  At least the downstate stores still feel somewhat natural given the distribution of stores in NJ and PA, but the MA stores are an island.  They keep claiming upstate NY "doesn't have the right demographics" but then they'll go and open one in Lancaster, PA (there's also the one in Hornell, but that was built before the shift away from just being a regular grocery store, albeit a very good one).  They also used to say they hate the business climate in NY, but the downstate stores disprove that reason too.  There was supposedly a deal with one of the Capital District grocery stores (most people say Price Chopper/Market 32), but wouldn't that be void now that Price Chopper exists in Syracuse, especially since they now own Tops and therefore overlap completely with the Wegmans upstate NY coverage area?

That is an interesting one. Wegmans has never had a small-town presence like Tops has, but it's surprising that they've never opened a store in the Watertown or Utica areas. I would say I'd expect them to eventually, but it's decades now that they've made it clear their expansion priorities are elsewhere, so maybe it will never happen. If the Price Chopper expansion to Syracuse is indicative of anything, I guess we'll find out sooner rather than later.

[SSOWorld]

Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.

Waffle Houses are a southern thing.  If it weren't, WI, IA and MN would have them too.

Costco in Dubuque? Nope.  Not Caturday.

[thspfc]

Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.

Waffle Houses are a southern thing.  If it weren't, WI, IA and MN would have them too.

Costco in Dubuque? Nope.  Not Caturday.

Uh no, I'm pretty sure Waffle Houses are specifically built along I-75 in all states it passes through except Michigan.

[Takumi]

Richmond has no Albertsons-owned grocery stores. Safeway left the area around 1990, and has never returned despite a presence around the DC area ever since.

[jeffandnicole]

Wegmans skipped over virtually all of upstate NY northeast of Binghamton/Syracuse.  It's especially glaring now that there are stores downstate around NYC and around Boston in neighboring MA.  At least the downstate stores still feel somewhat natural given the distribution of stores in NJ and PA, but the MA stores are an island.  They keep claiming upstate NY "doesn't have the right demographics" but then they'll go and open one in Lancaster, PA (there's also the one in Hornell, but that was built before the shift away from just being a regular grocery store, albeit a very good one).  They also used to say they hate the business climate in NY, but the downstate stores disprove that reason too.  There was supposedly a deal with one of the Capital District grocery stores (most people say Price Chopper/Market 32), but wouldn't that be void now that Price Chopper exists in Syracuse, especially since they now own Tops and therefore overlap completely with the Wegmans upstate NY coverage area?

That is an interesting one. Wegmans has never had a small-town presence like Tops has, but it's surprising that they've never opened a store in the Watertown or Utica areas. I would say I'd expect them to eventually, but it's decades now that they've made it clear their expansion priorities are elsewhere, so maybe it will never happen. If the Price Chopper expansion to Syracuse is indicative of anything, I guess we'll find out sooner rather than later.

https://www.wegmans.com/news-media/articles/please-build-a-wegmans-near-me/

[Rothman]

Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.

Waffle Houses are a southern thing.  If it weren't, WI, IA and MN would have them too.

Costco in Dubuque? Nope.  Not Caturday.

Uh no, I'm pretty sure Waffle Houses are specifically built along I-75 in all states it passes through except Michigan.

A few in far northern Ohio.  But, they are more of a Southern thing by far.

[Rothman]

Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.

Waffle Houses are a southern thing.  If it weren't, WI, IA and MN would have them too.

Costco in Dubuque? Nope.  Not Caturday.

Uh no, I'm pretty sure Waffle Houses are specifically built along I-75 in all states it passes through except Michigan.

A few in far northern Ohio.  But, they are more of a Southern thing by far.

[Flint1979]

There are at least four Waffle House's in the Toledo area and then almost everywhere south of there to Florida along I-75. They are especially prominent around the Atlanta area.

[webny99]

https://www.wegmans.com/news-media/articles/please-build-a-wegmans-near-me/

LOL. Unsurprising that Florida tops the list of places where people request a Wegmans, as it's probably mostly retirees and other transplants from the Rochester area. I wonder where northern/eastern NY would rank on that list - probably below at least a handful of southern states. My somewhat bold prediction is Florida gets their first Wegmans before Ohio.

[Rothman]

https://www.wegmans.com/news-media/articles/please-build-a-wegmans-near-me/

LOL. Unsurprising that Florida tops the list of places where people request a Wegmans, as it's probably mostly retirees and other transplants from the Rochester area. I wonder where northern/eastern NY would rank on that list - probably below at least a handful of southern states. My somewhat bold prediction is Florida gets their first Wegmans before Ohio.

Albany's been whining for one for years.

[MATraveler128]

At one point, the Boston area used to have Krispy Kreme during a franchise agreement with a company called The Jan Companies, which was based in Rhode Island with their first location being in Medford. It should be noted though that there is still one New England location inside of Mohegan Sun in Norwich, Connecticut. Krispy Kreme in Greater Boston lasted from 2003-2007. Besides that, the closest ones are in New Jersey. I guess Dunkin Donuts was just too popular around here to keep them going.

[chrisdiaz]

Long Island has many:

• Golden Corral: My family had a party here in 2002 (I was a baby), and as long as I can remember, its been gone.
• Cracker Barrel: None. Rumors that one would open in Commack were spreading for years, but as far as I'm aware, nothing has come to fruition.
• Wegmans: one is finally opening up in Lake Grove next year I believe.
• Wawa: Absolutely none on LI despite absolutely taking over NJ. Most likely can be attributed to the fact that Long Island is extremely loyal to 7-Eleven.
• O'Reilly Auto Parts
• Ross
• Krispy Kreme!!! We had NONE on Long Island, despite them being located at many places in NYC. When I went to Stony Brook University, there would be fundraisers where people would bring tens of DOZENS of donuts from a Krispy Kreme in the city out to SB to sell and raise money.

In terms of Myrtle Beach, we just recently got 7-Elevens here, and there are only two of them so far. Another notable example is Kroger/Harris Teeter. In the Myrtle Beach metro, we have Kroger. In every adjacent area (Charleston, Florence, Wilmington), they have Harris Teeter supermarkets.

[wriddle082]

https://www.wegmans.com/news-media/articles/please-build-a-wegmans-near-me/

LOL. Unsurprising that Florida tops the list of places where people request a Wegmans, as it's probably mostly retirees and other transplants from the Rochester area. I wonder where northern/eastern NY would rank on that list - probably below at least a handful of southern states. My somewhat bold prediction is Florida gets their first Wegmans before Ohio.

Florida has always been a magnet for more Northerly chains to locate due to transplants.  The first time I ever witnessed this was back in the early 90's when I went on vacation with my parents to Marco Island and we got gas at a SuperAmerica in Naples.  Prior to that I was only used to seeing them in KY, WV, and OH.

Other Northern chains that have made their way to FL and mostly skipped the areas in between include Wawa, Thornton's, Cumberland Farms, Friendly's, Bob Evans, Perkins, and Village Inn.

If and when Wegmans does finally build in Florida, it's gonna be interesting to see how it affects Publix, since they pretty much own nearly the whole state these days.

[Sctvhound]

Charleston and Myrtle Beach never have had Macy's. Every other market around us to the north and west had either Rich's or Macy's. Rich's was in Savannah for decades, as long as the chain has been around. Columbia also had a major Rich's presence and they became Macy's when they merged in 2005.

Krystal has basically skipped South Carolina since the late 1990s. They have a location in Gaffney, on the NC line on I-85, and a couple in Aiken and North Augusta (part of the Augusta market), but there's none anywhere else in the state.

They pulled out of Columbia and Charleston years back.