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.
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.
Nearly all the BPs disappeared from the Louisville area, most becoming Shells, sometime around 2010.
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.
Macy's, but there are historical reasons why.
Quote from: kevinb1994 on June 05, 2022, 03:42:17 PM
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.
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?
Michigan has no Waffle House's but every other state along I-75 has plenty of them.
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).
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
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 05, 2022, 04:12:54 PM
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.
Quote from: vdeane on June 05, 2022, 03:53:19 PM
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.
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 05, 2022, 04:12:54 PM
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.
Quote from: SSOWorld on June 05, 2022, 08:56:06 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 05, 2022, 04:12:54 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: webny99 on June 05, 2022, 07:42:24 PM
Quote from: vdeane on June 05, 2022, 03:53:19 PM
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/
Quote from: thspfc on June 05, 2022, 09:55:07 PM
Quote from: SSOWorld on June 05, 2022, 08:56:06 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 05, 2022, 04:12:54 PM
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.
Quote from: thspfc on June 05, 2022, 09:55:07 PM
Quote from: SSOWorld on June 05, 2022, 08:56:06 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 05, 2022, 04:12:54 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on June 05, 2022, 10:02:50 PM
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.
Quote from: webny99 on June 05, 2022, 10:20:19 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on June 05, 2022, 10:02:50 PM
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: webny99 on June 05, 2022, 10:20:19 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on June 05, 2022, 10:02:50 PM
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.
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.
Lots of chains skip Oklahoma City, because the city's population density is so low it messes with formulas executives use to calculate expected profitability of a potential store. Often, these are based on the income levels found within a 5 or 10 mile radius of the proposed site. They don't account for the fact that Oklahomans won't hesitate to drive 20 miles or more to visit a store if they like it well enough.
Long John Silvers never bothered to open a store in NJ.
Perkins are plentiful in NY state, but have never crossed northeast into New England.
Golden Corral has only one New England location in Springfield, MA. It came and went in a couple years in Milford, CT
Never had Montgomery Ward in CT. Nearest one was Poughkeepsie
There was one Checkers in Bristol, CT that lasted a year. Nearest one now is Long Island
No White Castles in New England. Have to go to Nanuet, NY
Costco and Trader Joe's are MIA in the Coos Bay-North Bend OR area. We are the largest urban area on the Oregon coast, serving a regional market of 100K plus a ton of tourists in the summer. Plenty of other chains manage to make a nice enough profit here to stick around so it is not like we are some sort of poor backwater.
Came & Went Department: Arby's picked as lousy a location as possible and wound up folding their tent. Once again, we are doing well with many other major chains so why not do the job right Arby's?
Rick
Pizza Hut took its time coming to NJ. As NY and PA had them plenty, but not the Garden State until about 1984.
Then Mays department store when in their hey days, were in the NYC metro area, but not in North Jersey. They were big on Long Island, some of the outer boroughs of NYC, and the lower Upstate NY counties.
Someone upthread mentioned Ross. They were very notably absent from Kentucky until just a few years ago.
Quote from: wriddle082 on June 05, 2022, 11:37:26 PM
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.
Publix and Wegmans overlap in the Richmond and Raleigh markets, which, like Florida, have lots of transplants from Wegmans' home base. In both markets, the Wegmans are very large stores with only a couple locations in affluent areas, while Publix feels more like a typical grocery store and are more plentiful. I don't frequent either, but there are literally dozens of grocery stores between me and the closest Wegmans, while I'll only go to Publix if I want something specifically from there.
Quote from: webny99 on June 05, 2022, 10:20:19 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on June 05, 2022, 10:02:50 PM
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.
25 years ago, maybe, but I don't see the point of distributing that far away. While Publix is strong down in Florida, managers mumbled that they would lose about 10-15% of their business soon after a Walmart / Target Supercenter popped up nearby. Since Publix in the RDU area as well, I could see there being a bit of a stalemate, since Harris Teeter is a comparable store and has an established presence there. Even Kroger has very few stores in Florida (though I'm struggling to think of one right now).
South Florida is a bit of a distribution cul-de-sac (do Maine and Western Washington have these issues?), but it's grown enough that the situation has changed a bit.
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.
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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 was shocked in 1988 there were none in CA around LA. I guess they took time expanding.
Then u have In and Out which selects markets and has no plans to expand. In away I find it admirable.
Quote from: Sctvhound on June 06, 2022, 12:45:29 AM
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.
Completely forgot about this one. It was my mom's favorite store when we lived in NY :-D
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 11:21:02 AM
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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.
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 06, 2022, 02:11:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 11:21:02 AM
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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.
Yes, but plenty of places have both. Massachusetts is Dunkin's home turf and they have tons of Starbucks too.
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 02:58:30 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 06, 2022, 02:11:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 11:21:02 AM
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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.
Yes, but plenty of places have both. Massachusetts is Dunkin's home turf and they have tons of Starbucks too.
Oddly we had Starbucks before a Dunkin'. I wonder what the market threshold is for a new Starbucks point; going to guess an agglomeration of 50,000 residents (or travelers) is a starting site. And if it's successful, probably a little less for each subsequent location until the saturation point is hit.
You could probably substitute any other mid-market national brand in for Starbucks.
James Island (29412 zip code) has about 45,000 population. We had just hit the 40K point a few years back when we got a Chick-fil-A and a Starbucks.
We had a Kmart as far back as the early 80s because the population that lived on John's Island, West Ashley south of US 17, Folly Beach and parts of downtown was enough to break whatever threshold they had.
Walmart came in about 1995. We also got Blockbuster Video around that time.
But they definitely do look at demographics. Harris Teeter only goes in household income areas above 60 or 70K a year. Like how my area has 4 of them while the highly populated North Charleston, Hanahan, Goose Creek and Moncks Corner area doesn't have one.
Wegmans probably has an even higher household income point.
Cheesecake Factory is another restaurant chain that is very picky about where it goes. You only see them around super regional malls that are doing very well. Weirdly, Gainesville, FL and Lexington, KY have them (two pretty small metro areas).
The only Cheesecake Factory in South Carolina is in Greenville. With so much population growth in the state between Charleston, Columbia and Myrtle Beach you'd think one of the three cities would have one.
SM-G998U
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 11:21:02 AM
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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.
Dunkin Donuts did have 10 stores in Washington from the 1980s until 2002 (https://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/As-of-Friday-no-more-Dunkin-Donuts-in-Washington-1099645.php), when the last ones shut down.
Quote from: chrisdiaz on June 06, 2022, 01:38:18 PM
Quote from: Sctvhound on June 06, 2022, 12:45:29 AM
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.
Completely forgot about this one. It was my mom's favorite store when we lived in NY :-D
Does Belk have the market there? Macy's mostly wound up with former Federated stores outside their main service area and Belk wasn't Federated.
Quote from: GCrites80s on June 06, 2022, 09:37:42 PM
Quote from: chrisdiaz on June 06, 2022, 01:38:18 PM
Quote from: Sctvhound on June 06, 2022, 12:45:29 AM
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.
Completely forgot about this one. It was my mom's favorite store when we lived in NY :-D
Does Belk have the market there? Macy's mostly wound up with former Federated stores outside their main service area and Belk wasn't Federated.
Yeah, actually they do, at least in MB, and I never thought of that before your reply. We have 4 in the immediate MB area, with 2 in MB, and one each in Conway and Murrells Inlet. There are also Belks in Georgetown and Shallotte, both on the fringes of what I would consider the Myrtle Beach metro.
I always thought of Dunkin as a competitor of Krispy Kreme, not Starbucks.
I'm in the area that has both donut places.
Quote from: BlueOutback7 on June 05, 2022, 10:36:54 PM
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.
When they first came here, I remember lines snaking around the block and becoming a traffic hazard, especially at places like their location on the Berlin Turnpike south of Hartford (a death trap, anyway).
Once the novelty wore off, Krispy was just ill-suited to New England tastes. We have a sweet tooth, but nothing like the South, making their donuts too sweet, and - most importantly - their coffee was subpar.
Quote from: hbelkins on June 07, 2022, 02:47:58 PM
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.
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 07, 2022, 02:58:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 07, 2022, 02:47:58 PM
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.
Quote from: chrisdiaz on June 05, 2022, 11:35:12 PM
Long Island has many:
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.
7-11s were everywhere in South Carolina up until around 1980 or so
America runs on Dunkin'.
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.
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 07, 2022, 03:04:50 PM
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 07, 2022, 02:58:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 07, 2022, 02:47:58 PM
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.
Been awhile since I've been in either, but it seems to me that KK is still concentrating on selling pastries, while DD has also expanded into breakfast offerings such as sandwiches.
Quote from: hbelkins on June 08, 2022, 06:15:10 PM
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 07, 2022, 03:04:50 PM
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 07, 2022, 02:58:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 07, 2022, 02:47:58 PM
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.
Been awhile since I've been in either, but it seems to me that KK is still concentrating on selling pastries, while DD has also expanded into breakfast offerings such as sandwiches.
Breakfast, and even lunch. They've been promoting their Grilled Cheese lately.
But they are mainly a coffee place. In the general Philly area, they are often compared with Wawa in terms of coffee. The breakfast foods are basically an impulse item.
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 05, 2022, 04:25:48 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on June 05, 2022, 04:12:54 PM
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.
FWIW, St. Joseph, MO has a Waffle House. When I lived in Omaha, I once went to St. Joseph just to go there.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 06, 2022, 10:01:39 AMPerkins are plentiful in NY state
There does not appear to be any method to Perkins' madness. There are a number of them on the Wisconsin side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, as if they're fireworks stores, but none in Illinois, and they pulled out of Michigan long ago, yet I've seen a sign for a Perkins on I-40 near Pigeon Forge, and ate at one attached to a Holiday Inn Express in Arkansas, of all places.
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 11:28:29 AM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 06, 2022, 10:01:39 AMPerkins are plentiful in NY state
There does not appear to be any method to Perkins' madness. There are a number of them on the Wisconsin side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, as if they're fireworks stores, but none in Illinois, and they pulled out of Michigan long ago, yet I've seen a sign for a Perkins on I-40 near Pigeon Forge, and ate at one attached to a Holiday Inn Express in Arkansas, of all places.
Perkins aren't everywhere in NY, either. Last I knew, they didn't have a location north of Wappingers Falls in eastern NY. Heck, I don't think Syracuse has a location...
I'll check, but saying Perkins are plentiful in NY state seems like a big overstatement the more I think about it.
Quote from: Rothman on June 09, 2022, 11:30:42 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 11:28:29 AM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 06, 2022, 10:01:39 AMPerkins are plentiful in NY state
There does not appear to be any method to Perkins' madness. There are a number of them on the Wisconsin side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, as if they're fireworks stores, but none in Illinois, and they pulled out of Michigan long ago, yet I've seen a sign for a Perkins on I-40 near Pigeon Forge, and ate at one attached to a Holiday Inn Express in Arkansas, of all places.
Perkins aren't everywhere in NY, either. Last I knew, they didn't have a location north of Wappingers Falls in eastern NY. Heck, I don't think Syracuse has a location...
I'll check, but saying Perkins are plentiful in NY state seems like a big overstatement the more I think about it.
Perkins website has 5 locations in NY (including one up in Plattsburgh).
So, no, not plentiful at all.
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 11:28:29 AM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 06, 2022, 10:01:39 AMPerkins are plentiful in NY state
There does not appear to be any method to Perkins' madness. There are a number of them on the Wisconsin side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, as if they're fireworks stores, but none in Illinois, and they pulled out of Michigan long ago, yet I've seen a sign for a Perkins on I-40 near Pigeon Forge, and ate at one attached to a Holiday Inn Express in Arkansas, of all places.
Until a few years ago there was one in Ashland, VA, north of Richmond. The next closest one is in Maryland, none in North Carolina, and the only remaining Virginia location is Bristol.
Quote from: Takumi on June 09, 2022, 12:03:52 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 11:28:29 AM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 06, 2022, 10:01:39 AMPerkins are plentiful in NY state
There does not appear to be any method to Perkins' madness. There are a number of them on the Wisconsin side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, as if they're fireworks stores, but none in Illinois, and they pulled out of Michigan long ago, yet I've seen a sign for a Perkins on I-40 near Pigeon Forge, and ate at one attached to a Holiday Inn Express in Arkansas, of all places.
Until a few years ago there was one in Ashland, VA, north of Richmond. The next closest one is in Maryland, none in North Carolina, and the only remaining Virginia location is Bristol.
Hm, I'm surprised I never stopped and ate there, been a big fan of Perkins since 2000 or so.
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 12:05:02 PM
Quote from: Takumi on June 09, 2022, 12:03:52 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 09, 2022, 11:28:29 AM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 06, 2022, 10:01:39 AMPerkins are plentiful in NY state
There does not appear to be any method to Perkins' madness. There are a number of them on the Wisconsin side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border, as if they're fireworks stores, but none in Illinois, and they pulled out of Michigan long ago, yet I've seen a sign for a Perkins on I-40 near Pigeon Forge, and ate at one attached to a Holiday Inn Express in Arkansas, of all places.
Until a few years ago there was one in Ashland, VA, north of Richmond. The next closest one is in Maryland, none in North Carolina, and the only remaining Virginia location is Bristol.
Hm, I'm surprised I never stopped and ate there, been a big fan of Perkins since 2000 or so.
I never ate there either. Just noticed it a couple times after being mentioned on this forum years ago. Ashland for me is one of those places where it's close enough to home to not really be a destination, but also not close enough that I travel there regularly.
For the entire time we lived in OKC, Costco did not have a warehouse there. When we moved away though, guess what got built near our old house?
Quote from: MCRoads on June 09, 2022, 12:55:32 PM
For the entire time we lived in OKC, Costco did not have a warehouse there. When we moved away though, guess what got built near our old house?
Dunkin Donuts?
Quote from: kphoger on June 09, 2022, 12:57:11 PM
Quote from: MCRoads on June 09, 2022, 12:55:32 PM
For the entire time we lived in OKC, Costco did not have a warehouse there. When we moved away though, guess what got built near our old house?
Dunkin Donuts?
Yes. It was Dunkin' Doughnuts.
This isn't a chain, but it's interesting how many beer brands don't bother distributing in Colorado. Since we have so many locals and the market is so saturated, I have a tough time finding some non-Colorado brands that I love and used to be able to find readily in Kansas City when I lived there.
Quote from: roadman65 on June 06, 2022, 12:48:51 AM
Long John Silvers never bothered to open a store in NJ.
Long John's was weird in CT. Had a bunch of them in the late 70's that all closed around 1981. About 25 years later, a pair of locations opened up paired with Taco Bell. Chuck E Cheese had a similar pattern: had a bunch of them in the early-mid 80's which all closed, then they came back in the mid-late 90's.
Despite being from not too far away in Coney Island, there is only one Nathan's in the entire state, which is in Danbury
Fair Mall. Firehouse Subs also came and went (twice in the case of one location).
Until about 8 years ago, Yuengling didn't distribute to CT. I can remember taking rides to Brewster, NY to stock up.
Quote from: DandyDan on June 09, 2022, 07:45:31 AM
FWIW, St. Joseph, MO has a Waffle House. When I lived in Omaha, I once went to St. Joseph just to go there.
Liberty, MO, also has one. I find it odd that the I-35/MO 152 interchange has both a Waffle House and a Pizza Ranch, which is based in Orange City, IA, but has expanded as far south as Arkansas.
Interesting that Akron Ohio has always been a Krispy Kreme market since the 50s, but was never established anywhere else in NEOH until about 20 years ago.
Akron also had Walgreens in their market and nowhere else in NEOH until the 60s/early 70s (I believe) until Walgreens returned, again about 20 years ago, when they went full blown national expansion.
Even Charleston, which you'd think would be a big Krispy Kreme market, had only one location until a couple of years ago (West Ashley).
They put their donuts (not hot) in Harris Teeter supermarkets but forget about a location. They added one in Summerville later.
Charleston also only has one Olive Garden and one Carrabba's location (both in North Charleston). For this market being as large as it is (800K+) you'd think we'd have a 2nd Olive Garden by now. The 2nd Carrabba's location closed a few years ago.
Asheville has 2, Myrtle Beach 3, yet Charleston has the same amount as Statesboro, Waycross and Brunswick, GA.
SM-G998U
Quote from: hbelkins on June 08, 2022, 06:15:10 PM
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 07, 2022, 03:04:50 PM
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 07, 2022, 02:58:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 07, 2022, 02:47:58 PM
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.
Been awhile since I've been in either, but it seems to me that KK is still concentrating on selling pastries, while DD has also expanded into breakfast offerings such as sandwiches.
Yeah, their emphasis on their non-donut food items and coffee is a big part of why the company officially changed its US trade name to Dunkin' a few years ago (although the parent company is still called Dunkin' Donuts).
Both Dunkin' and 7-11 expanded into Columbus in the late-'70s/early '80s, got beat down by the end of the '80s and left, then tried a comeback in the early 2000s, got beat down again and severely curtailed their presence here by the early 2010s. We still have about 10 Dunkin's but probably had 25 in 1985. 7-11 is completely absent from the market but does now own Speedway which has lots of locations locally.
Our local donut shops are very popular plus we have a lot of Tim Horton's whose donuts IMO are merely OK.
Quote from: roadman65 on June 06, 2022, 12:48:51 AM
Long John Silvers never bothered to open a store in NJ.
There is at least one combo one, with a Taco Bell in Mantua, NJ. By far, the Taco Bell products are way more popular than the LJS offerings. https://goo.gl/maps/DVpCNpVgrrRBQM8h7
Tim Horton's opened a few locations in Southern New England, many of which were either former Bess Eaton locations, or were paired with Coldstone Creamery (which itself, has kind of retreated). They only lasted a few years, as, like Krispy Kreme, they couldn't compete on Dunkin's home turf. Ironically, Bess Eaton was resurrected, but only in the Westerly, RI area. As for Tim's: the are a few interspersed in the NYC area and a couple in the Lehigh Valley. Otherwise, the nearest is Montreal.
Qdoba is another that seemed to skip our area. All over the NYC and Boston area, but the only CT location (in the NYC area) is Norwalk.
We had one Fazoli's that opened in a truck stop but was gone within a year. Also used to be one Church's location in Hartford that is long gone.
For upscale retail: Nieman Marcus skipped the area. 4 in the NYC area and 2 in the Boston area, with the nearest one being White Plains.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 12, 2022, 01:05:19 PM
Tim Horton's opened a few locations in Southern New England, many of which were either former Bess Eaton locations, or were paired with Coldstone Creamery (which itself, has kind of retreated). They only lasted a few years, as, like Krispy Kreme, they couldn't compete on Dunkin's home turf. Ironically, Bess Eaton was resurrected, but only in the Westerly, RI area. As for Tim's: the are a few interspersed in the NYC area and a couple in the Lehigh Valley. Otherwise, the nearest is Montreal.
Qdoba is another that seemed to skip our area. All over the NYC and Boston area, but the only CT location (in the NYC area) is Norwalk.
We had one Fazoli's that opened in a truck stop but was gone within a year. Also used to be one Church's location in Hartford that is long gone.
For upscale retail: Nieman Marcus skipped the area. 4 in the NYC area and 2 in the Boston area, with the nearest one being White Plains.
I actually liked Tim Horton's, but in our region they were indeed in the belly of the Dunkin beast, along with many other coffee and donut places. After all, even McD's has good coffee. There are a couple of Bess Eaton's in South County, but they're more of a niche/nostalgia destination than anything else.it, like Honey Dew were strictly regional chains.
There are Qdobas in the Boston area, but they compete with Chipotle and other fast casual places. Always wanted to try Church's but none nearby.
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).
As for Fazoli's, I suspect it's own three words predicated it's doom in the Northeast. Fresh. Fast. Italian. Nuff said.
Also, I remember an Arco gas station that used to be near my house that's gone (as well as the station itself). Although Arco itself us expanding eastward.
Costco has no presence in Arkansas other than Little Rock. Guess the NW corner needs to grow a little more in population and wealth.
Quote from: MikieTimT on June 12, 2022, 02:41:48 PM
Costco has no presence in Arkansas other than Little Rock. Guess the NW corner needs to grow a little more in population and wealth.
Got you beat here. There are no Costco warehouses in West Virginia.
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).
Quote from: MikieTimT on June 12, 2022, 02:41:48 PM
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.
Quote from: MikieTimT on June 12, 2022, 02:41:48 PM
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.
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 12, 2022, 01:44:20 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: Brandon on June 12, 2022, 04:54:47 PM
Quote from: MikieTimT on June 12, 2022, 02:41:48 PM
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.
Quote from: jakeroot on June 12, 2022, 02:58:54 PM
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
Quote from: kphoger on June 14, 2022, 10:55:35 AM
Quote from: jakeroot on June 12, 2022, 02:58:54 PM
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. :-D
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).
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 07, 2022, 03:04:50 PM
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 07, 2022, 02:58:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on June 07, 2022, 02:47:58 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: jakeroot on June 14, 2022, 12:36:28 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 14, 2022, 10:55:35 AM
Quote from: jakeroot on June 12, 2022, 02:58:54 PM
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. :-D
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.
Quote from: hbelkins on June 12, 2022, 04:44:03 PM
Quote from: MikieTimT on June 12, 2022, 02:41:48 PM
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.
Quote from: formulanone on June 20, 2022, 06:23:33 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on June 14, 2022, 12:36:28 PM
Quote from: kphoger on June 14, 2022, 10:55:35 AM
Quote from: jakeroot on June 12, 2022, 02:58:54 PM
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. :-D
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 (https://goo.gl/maps/jRMBAnYVASiBu1PK8) is the only one I can remember, outside the single Spokane location and one at Sea-Tac Airport that closed a while ago).
That reminds me, the only Macaroni Grill in Chicagoland is at O'Hare.
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 21, 2022, 10:31:18 AM
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.
Quote from: kphoger on June 21, 2022, 10:44:26 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 21, 2022, 10:31:18 AM
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
Quote from: kphoger on June 21, 2022, 10:44:26 AMI 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.
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 06, 2022, 02:11:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 11:21:02 AM
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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.
Quote from: kkt on June 21, 2022, 04:52:44 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on June 06, 2022, 02:11:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on June 06, 2022, 11:21:02 AM
Quote from: formulanone on June 06, 2022, 11:06:36 AM
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 12, 2022, 11:58:50 AM
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.
Quote from: hbelkins on October 12, 2022, 12:49:18 PM
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 12, 2022, 11:58:50 AM
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.
Quote from: hbelkins on October 12, 2022, 12:49:18 PM
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 12, 2022, 11:58:50 AM
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.
Quote from: CoreySamson on June 07, 2022, 07:35:56 PM
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.
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 12, 2022, 11:58:50 AM
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.
Meijer was never closer to Northeast Ohio than Mansfield (actually Ontario) and Sandusky until 2019 when they made a concerted effort to build, despite plans back in the 90s (when the Mansfield and Sandusky stores opened, with the "pineapple" near the grocery entry and the translucent panels across the top of the front, classic 90s design). They owned a tract of land off I-480 in Twinsburg, for example, but never opened a store there and eventually sold the land. Now there are more and more of them (although still not one close enough to my neighborhood yet) in the area.
As far as Kroger, one of the few old Krogers around that had been bought by Giant Eagle and converted bit the dust in 2015 when they built a big new Market District store nearby. If you knew Kroger, you knew seeing the exterior and especially seeing the inside that it was once a Kroger.
On the former Giant Eagle site is a Menards now, another store that had not been in the area until 2018. The closest one was in Massillon, and now there are ones in the Falls, Brimfield, and even Cleveland proper among others.
Until this year, Royal Farms skipped the Richmond area, with locations in Nova and Hampton Roads, but one opened up here a few months ago and another is scheduled to be built next year.
Red Lobster has a few locations in Connecticut but none elsewhere in New England.
It's amazing how many chains boundary is Kentucky
Meijer
Menards
Krystal
Soon Kentucky will be the farthest north they go
When I moved here in 2010 Culver's boundary was Kentucky now its all over
SM-G996U
Chick-fil-A has more of a presence in New England than they did before.
Kroger is long-gone from Raleigh-Durham (and even longer out of Charlotte), after purchasing Charlotte area-based Harris Teeter (and eventually converting many of the old Kroger locations to Harris-Teeter). But it was odd that Kroger completely skipped over the Triad in the process of developing markets in North Carolina.
Quote from: Dirt Roads on October 13, 2022, 08:52:36 AM
Kroger is long-gone from Raleigh-Durham (and even longer out of Charlotte), after purchasing Charlotte area-based Harris Teeter (and eventually converting many of the old Kroger locations to Harris-Teeter). But it was odd that Kroger completely skipped over the Triad in the process of developing markets in North Carolina.
Really? When I lived in Raleigh or Apex (granted, 1998-2002) I preferred Kroger over Harris Teeter or Food Lion.
Quote from: Vaulter on October 13, 2022, 12:44:04 AM
Red Lobster has a few locations in Connecticut but none elsewhere in New England.
They didn't skip most of New England, they pulled out in the early-2000's or so. Had a few in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that just couldn't compete with local fare.
Quote from: elsmere241 on October 13, 2022, 08:57:18 AM
Quote from: Dirt Roads on October 13, 2022, 08:52:36 AM
Kroger is long-gone from Raleigh-Durham (and even longer out of Charlotte), after purchasing Charlotte area-based Harris Teeter (and eventually converting many of the old Kroger locations to Harris-Teeter). But it was odd that Kroger completely skipped over the Triad in the process of developing markets in North Carolina.
Really? When I lived in Raleigh or Apex (granted, 1998-2002) I preferred Kroger over Harris Teeter or Food Lion.
I'm curious to know what sort of timetable "long gone" denotes in this context. Dirt Roads's comment prompted me to look at Google Maps to see whether the Kroger I used to patronize in Durham (admittedly, 1995 to 1998) is still there. The map shows it's now a Teeter, but the Street View image from 2018 shows it as still being a Kroger. In my mind, four years ago isn't all that "long gone."
Quote from: SectorZ on October 13, 2022, 09:38:52 AM
Quote from: Vaulter on October 13, 2022, 12:44:04 AM
Red Lobster has a few locations in Connecticut but none elsewhere in New England.
They didn't skip most of New England, they pulled out in the early-2000's or so. Had a few in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that just couldn't compete with local fare.
I figured that was the reason but I didn't know they used to have those locations
Quote from: Takumi on October 13, 2022, 12:17:59 AM
Until this year, Royal Farms skipped the Richmond area, with locations in Nova and Hampton Roads, but one opened up here a few months ago and another is scheduled to be built next year.
Where's the second location going to be?
Quote from: Dirt Roads on October 13, 2022, 08:52:36 AM
Kroger is long-gone from Raleigh-Durham (and even longer out of Charlotte), after purchasing Charlotte area-based Harris Teeter (and eventually converting many of the old Kroger locations to Harris-Teeter). But it was odd that Kroger completely skipped over the Triad in the process of developing markets in North Carolina.
Quote from: elsmere241 on October 13, 2022, 08:57:18 AM
Really? When I lived in Raleigh or Apex (granted, 1998-2002) I preferred Kroger over Harris Teeter or Food Lion.
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 13, 2022, 10:17:22 AM
I'm curious to know what sort of timetable "long gone" denotes in this context. Dirt Roads's comment prompted me to look at Google Maps to see whether the Kroger I used to patronize in Durham (admittedly, 1995 to 1998) is still there. The map shows it's now a Teeter, but the Street View image from 2018 shows it as still being a Kroger. In my mind, four years ago isn't all that "long gone."
Sorry, COVID makes everything seem like a long time.
Kroger opened several additional new stores in Raleigh back around 2002, and the neighborhoods didn't develop around those shopping centers so they closed those 10 years later. Kroger announced that it was buying Harris-Teeter on July 8, 2013 and the remaining stores in North Carolina were certainly nervous. The local unions hammered out an agreement to extend the closure date (I'm guessing 5 years from then, but don't know that as a fact), and the agreement required that the stores not be replaced with non-unionized Harris Teeters for another 2 years thereafter. Indeed, Kroger announced that they were leaving Raleigh-Durham on June 13, 2018. Some of the old Kroger stores were partially reopened as Harris-Teeter pharmacy-only prior to the 2-year moratorium. Kroger left Charlotte way back in the late 1980s. They did a crazy double-swap with Bi-Lo in a 6-month window that will make your head swim.
Not sure what the local union was, but about 12 years ago or so I was visiting family in West Virginia when there was a picket line (non-strike) at their local Kroger. Oddly, they were members of the United Steelworkers union instead of what they traditionally belonged to (now United Food and Commercial Workers Union).
Kroger was the only grocery chain that was worth travelling to Durham for. We sometimes will shop at some of the Harris-Teeter stores in Chapel Hill when we need a specialty supply that we can't get at Food Lion or Lowes Foods.
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 21, 2022, 11:33:39 AM
Quote from: kphoger on June 21, 2022, 10:44:26 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on June 21, 2022, 10:31:18 AM
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
Quote from: kphoger on June 21, 2022, 10:44:26 AMI 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.
Oh, I walked past the location on Saturday, and it was open.
Semi-related, but I just spent a week in rural Arkansas, and I have to say, if your community can support numerous dollar stores, then it can probably support one Aldi.
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 13, 2022, 12:45:00 PM
Quote from: Takumi on October 13, 2022, 12:17:59 AM
Until this year, Royal Farms skipped the Richmond area, with locations in Nova and Hampton Roads, but one opened up here a few months ago and another is scheduled to be built next year.
Where's the second location going to be?
River's Bend in Chester.
Quote from: abefroman329 on October 13, 2022, 03:03:56 PM
Semi-related, but I just spent a week in rural Arkansas, and I have to say, if your community can support numerous dollar stores, then it can probably support one Aldi.
Do they have Save A Lot's
In Kentucky almost every county at least has a Save A Lot or a IGA.
SM-G996U
I think Kroger's owns Harris Teeter in the same way they own Frys, Ralph's, and Dillion's.
Quote from: XamotCGC on October 13, 2022, 08:15:55 PM
I think Kroger's owns Harris Teeter in the same way they own Frys, Ralph's, and Dillion's.
Correct, Harris Teeter was bought by Kroger in 2013 in a $2.4 billion all-cash deal.
Quote from: XamotCGC on October 13, 2022, 08:15:55 PM
I think Kroger's owns Harris Teeter in the same way they own Frys, Ralph's, and Dillion's.
You think Kroger's
what owns them?
Kroger withdrew from a bunch of Ohio Valley locations years ago after a union work stoppage. I think the closures were centered on West Virginia, but seems like some locations in the Ashland area shut down too. Anyone remember the details?
Quote from: kphoger on October 14, 2022, 11:09:22 AM
Quote from: XamotCGC on October 13, 2022, 08:15:55 PM
I think Kroger's owns Harris Teeter in the same way they own Frys, Ralph's, and Dillion's.
You think Kroger's what owns them?
I've been assured that the chain is called "Kroger's" because there are more than one of them.
Quote from: abefroman329 on October 14, 2022, 11:56:46 AM
I've been assured that the chain is called "Kroger's" because there are more than one of them.
:bigass: ... and also ... :pan:
Quote from: ibthebigd on October 13, 2022, 04:55:53 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on October 13, 2022, 03:03:56 PM
Semi-related, but I just spent a week in rural Arkansas, and I have to say, if your community can support numerous dollar stores, then it can probably support one Aldi.
Do they have Save A Lot's
In Kentucky almost every county at least has a Save A Lot or a IGA.
SM-G996U
Oh, maybe - there was a Brookshire's and a Kroger['s], but the latter was a pretty good drive away.
Quote from: ibthebigd on October 13, 2022, 04:55:53 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on October 13, 2022, 03:03:56 PM
Semi-related, but I just spent a week in rural Arkansas, and I have to say, if your community can support numerous dollar stores, then it can probably support one Aldi.
Do they have Save A Lot's
In Kentucky almost every county at least has a Save A Lot or a IGA.
SM-G996U
Not every county. Owsley has neither. (But they do have a Shopwise, and the Lee County Save-A-Lot is located just two miles from the Owsley County line.
Quote from: hbelkins on October 14, 2022, 11:19:55 AM
Kroger withdrew from a bunch of Ohio Valley locations years ago after a union work stoppage. I think the closures were centered on West Virginia, but seems like some locations in the Ashland area shut down too. Anyone remember the details?
Was it a bunch of really small (<20,000 sqft) locations in small towns? I remember there used to be a website that documented those. They're not much like what we're used to seeing in most of Ohio.
Quote from: abefroman329 on October 14, 2022, 11:56:46 AM
Quote from: kphoger on October 14, 2022, 11:09:22 AM
Quote from: XamotCGC on October 13, 2022, 08:15:55 PM
I think Kroger's owns Harris Teeter in the same way they own Frys, Ralph's, and Dillion's.
You think Kroger's what owns them?
I've been assured that the chain is called "Kroger's" because there are more than one of them.
Kroger just announced today they are buying the Safeway/Albertson family of grocery stores, bringing their total number of stores to near 5,000 across the country. That number will likely drop a bit as some Safeways are practically neighbors with Kroger stores, and will probably consolidate locations.
I wonder if this would give Walmart an opportunity to take some of the throwaway locations and turn them into Neighborhood Markets?
Quote from: Takumi on June 05, 2022, 09:56:15 PM
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.
Safeway left everywhere east of the Rockies in the late 80's early 90's,then built back out some (Randalls / Tom Thumb among others) before the Albertson's merger.
Quote from: Takumi on October 13, 2022, 04:37:31 PM
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 13, 2022, 12:45:00 PM
Quote from: Takumi on October 13, 2022, 12:17:59 AM
Until this year, Royal Farms skipped the Richmond area, with locations in Nova and Hampton Roads, but one opened up here a few months ago and another is scheduled to be built next year.
Where's the second location going to be?
River's Bend in Chester.
Richmond BizSense posted an article this morning detailing Royal Farms' latest plans for the metro.
https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/17/new-to-market-royal-farms-buys-two-more-sites-in-chesterfield/
Quote from: plain on October 17, 2022, 09:14:16 AM
Quote from: Takumi on October 13, 2022, 04:37:31 PM
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on October 13, 2022, 12:45:00 PM
Quote from: Takumi on October 13, 2022, 12:17:59 AM
Until this year, Royal Farms skipped the Richmond area, with locations in Nova and Hampton Roads, but one opened up here a few months ago and another is scheduled to be built next year.
Where's the second location going to be?
River’s Bend in Chester.
Richmond BizSense posted an article this morning detailing Royal Farms' latest plans for the metro.
https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/10/17/new-to-market-royal-farms-buys-two-more-sites-in-chesterfield/
Wow, they’re going all in. The Indian Hill spot will do very, very well, because it’s the first sight off I-95 southbound at the Walthall exit.
(Also, you’re an old-time Richmonder if you remember both when it was spelled Indian Hill
s, and when it connected to 1/301.
Aldi Stores for now does not exist in Northern California. For now Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose areas are some of the largest cities in the USA without an Aldi Store, Once I looked closely Washington State, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Idaho are some of the other regions without an Aldi chain for now. They are a major chain in other parts of the USA.
https://stores.aldi.us/ca (https://stores.aldi.us/ca)
https://stores.aldi.us/ (https://stores.aldi.us/)
https://stores.aldi.us/tx (https://stores.aldi.us/tx)
Casey's bought several smaller format Pilot stations giving them a presence in Knoxville skipping right over Central/Eastern Kentucky.
SM-G996U
G.D. Ritzy's is closing permanently. https://www.wsaz.com/2023/05/30/gd-ritzys-close-permanently/
SM-G998U
Partially growing up in New England and St. Louis exposed me to the many quirks of "Retail Geography." The nearest Kroger stores to us, when I lived in the St. Louis area were in Lincoln and Warren Counties. They stopped at the St. Charles County line. Schnucks made sure of that.
Cape Cod used to have Red Lobster and Chili's. The Red Lobster became Olive Garden. The Chili's is now a "park" at the Airport Rotary.
Quote from: CapeCodder on May 30, 2023, 10:23:41 AM
Partially growing up in New England and St. Louis exposed me to the many quirks of "Retail Geography." The nearest Kroger stores to us, when I lived in the St. Louis area were in Lincoln and Warren Counties. They stopped at the St. Charles County line. Schnucks made sure of that.
Cape Cod used to have Red Lobster and Chili's. The Red Lobster became Olive Garden. The Chili's is now a "park" at the Airport Rotary.
I live in New England and haven't noticed this. While Stop & Shop doesn't go into New Hampshire anymore, it's a fairly recent change. Market Basket has no clearly defined boundary. Similarly, Big Y has a location in Peabody, MA, which is outside its base. While the tip of Cape Cod doesn't have any Dunkins, it's definitely not applicable to all of Cape Cod. Honeydew Donuts and Five Guys expanded from Stoneham MA farther north about five years ago. Bertucci's, Friendly's, and UNO, all Massachusetts-based restaurants, don't care about geography even when closures happen.
There's one thing that I do notice, but it's much more local: Lawrence MA, which is largely Hispanic and poorer than surrounding areas, has a much higher ratio of small local businesses, many of which are multiservices, salon/haircut/spa/etc., corner grocery stores, and auto repair. Certain parts (very small, like 1/4 mile × 1/4 mile) of Lowell and Haverhill (I believe the demographically similar to Lawrence parts) feel like Lawrence in this regard.
Kroger skipped most of Florida, yet are strong in Georgia. I'm guessing they're afraid to compete with Publix is my guess.
Quote from: 1 on May 30, 2023, 10:45:41 AM
Quote from: CapeCodder on May 30, 2023, 10:23:41 AM
Partially growing up in New England and St. Louis exposed me to the many quirks of "Retail Geography." The nearest Kroger stores to us, when I lived in the St. Louis area were in Lincoln and Warren Counties. They stopped at the St. Charles County line. Schnucks made sure of that.
Cape Cod used to have Red Lobster and Chili's. The Red Lobster became Olive Garden. The Chili's is now a "park" at the Airport Rotary.
I live in New England and haven't noticed this. While Stop & Shop doesn't go into New Hampshire anymore, it's a fairly recent change. Market Basket has no clearly defined boundary. Similarly, Big Y has a location in Peabody, MA, which is outside its base. While the tip of Cape Cod doesn't have any Dunkins, it's definitely not applicable to all of Cape Cod. Honeydew Donuts and Five Guys expanded from Stoneham MA farther north about five years ago. Bertucci's, Friendly's, and UNO, all Massachusetts-based restaurants, don't care about geography even when closures happen.
There's one thing that I do notice, but it's much more local: Lawrence MA, which is largely Hispanic and poorer than surrounding areas, has a much higher ratio of small local businesses, many of which are multiservices, salon/haircut/spa/etc., corner grocery stores, and auto repair. Certain parts (very small, like 1/4 mile × 1/4 mile) of Lowell and Haverhill (I believe the demographically similar to Lawrence parts) feel like Lawrence in this regard.
Big Y does have some stores in eastern MA, mostly south and east of 128/95. Not sure if they're new stores, or just replacing closed units of other stores. As for Market Basket, I'm continually amazed that they can keep opening new stores without really respecting geographic boundaries (although their presence in NH-ME balances out their MA stores). After their debilitating strike and management-induced turmoil in 2014, they actually attracted new shoppers (myself included after they opened a store near me that same year). As for Stop & Shop, I am wondering if they have too many stores with too many items such that they will eventually need to cut back, given the high cost, low margin industry they are in.
Agree about Lawrence. As for Lowell, it is more Asian (specifically Cambodian). I'm guessing Haverhill also has a growing Hispanic population.
Same in South Carolina. Kroger owns Harris Teeter now, but they pulled out of the Charleston market in the late 1980s, before Publix came into the market.
You don't have to go very far to see them. Hilton Head and Bluffton have Kroger, along with Murrells Inlet (Horry County).
Harris Teeter completely pulled out of Columbia and Myrtle Beach about 20 years ago. They have one oddball location in Florence, but pack the Charleston and Wilmington markets with locations.
HT has 3 locations within 2 miles of UNCW in Wilmington.
They only go in areas with very high income (like over $75K average). Mount Pleasant has 6 locations (the highest income part of the Charleston area), plus one on Isle of Palms, while North Charleston, Hanahan and Goose Creek don't have one.
Same with Publix. The only Publix in North Charleston, the 3rd most populous city in SC is on the more affluent Dorchester County side.
SM-G998U
Quote from: roadman65 on May 30, 2023, 11:00:34 AMI'm guessing they're afraid to compete with Publix is my guess.
If they did, it wouldn't be a difficult competition for Publix.
Quote from: abefroman329 on May 30, 2023, 02:43:39 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on May 30, 2023, 11:00:34 AMI'm guessing they're afraid to compete with Publix is my guess.
If they did, it wouldn't be a difficult competition for Publix.
They compete against other in Georgia.
Quote from: Big John on May 30, 2023, 02:55:36 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on May 30, 2023, 02:43:39 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on May 30, 2023, 11:00:34 AMI'm guessing they're afraid to compete with Publix is my guess.
If they did, it wouldn't be a difficult competition for Publix.
They compete against other in Georgia.
Also in Tennessee and (soon) the Louisville, KY area.
Quote from: Sctvhound on May 30, 2023, 09:18:40 AM
G.D. Ritzy's is closing permanently. https://www.wsaz.com/2023/05/30/gd-ritzys-close-permanently/
SM-G998U
There will be one newer Ritzy's left open in Columbus Ohio. It opened about 5 years ago.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ritzy's/@40.0565186,-83.022293,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x88388d77be6cc227:0x892ad0bb5942c2c7!8m2!3d40.0565186!4d-83.0201043!16s%2Fg%2F11gmb1f2hr?entry=ttu (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ritzy's/@40.0565186,-83.022293,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x88388d77be6cc227:0x892ad0bb5942c2c7!8m2!3d40.0565186!4d-83.0201043!16s%2Fg%2F11gmb1f2hr?entry=ttu)
Evansville IN and Owensboro KY still have a few locations
SM-G996U
Quote from: Sctvhound on May 30, 2023, 02:04:21 PMSame with Publix. The only Publix in North Charleston, the 3rd most populous city in SC is on the more affluent Dorchester County side.
That seems to be Publix Supermarkets' strategy outside of the southern 2/3 of Florida; set up in the more affluent and/or larger population areas, usually in newly-constructed areas. Overall, they charge a bit more than their competitors but sometimes you can really clean up on the weekly specials.
For the bulk of Florida, there's locations in some small towns but I think Okeechobee might be still the smallest city or micropolitan area with a Publix. Usually 25K-30K population and up seems to be the bar, and higher outside the state.
To this day there is no Costco in Dubuque #NotCaturday.
Publix and Harris Teeter basically have the same strategy. Fight over the high-income areas while the middle and lower-income areas get Food Lion or whatever other chains are in the area.
Food Lion completely pulled out of the Mount Pleasant area as they weren't making much money. Walmart I think is the dominant grocer here in the suburban areas of Berkeley and Dorchester Counties.
Jackson, MS never had a Pep Boys, Staples or a Red Robin. In fact, neither one have been anywhere in the state.
Despite the ubiquity of In-N-Out in California, there still isn't one in the West Coachella Valley. The nearest one when I moved here five years ago was in La Quinta which is a half hour away. There is now one near I-10 in Palm Desert and another in Rancho Mirage but those are still ten miles away from me. No idea why. We have every other fast food joint that tourists expect, from Del Taco to Five Guys. Isn't there some sort of California requirement of one In-N-Out for every 100K people? There is also no In-N-Out anywhere near Joshua Tree which helps explain why the one along I-10 in Cabazon may be the busiest In-N-Out I've seen.
Sam's Club pulled out of the Seattle area a few years ago. One of their former stores is slated to become Seattle proper's second Costco (took them long enough to do it).
Staples has a distribution center in the Green Bay area but no stores.
Carl's Jr. used to have a restaurant in Carson City but it disappeared about 10 years ago when that shopping center was reconfigured. They have some places in Reno and Sparks, but according to the list on their web site the next closest one in Nevada is out in Winnemucca. There's none in the California part of the Tahoe Basin either.
The Colonel lost his lease to serve his delicious blend of herbs and spices in South Lake Tahoe a few years ago, so there's no longer any KFC in the Tahoe Basin. Those do exist in Carson City and Gardnerville. As to Popeye's, they have just two locations in Reno/Sparks and no others in Nevada outside of the Vegas area.
Waffle House does not have any restaurants in Philadelphia or its Pennsylvania suburbs, yet there's locations to the north in Bethlehem, to the west in Lancaster, and to the south in the state of Delaware. I would love if Waffle House came closer to me, they have good food and cheap prices.
While it may not count as retail there is only one Freddy's Custard in all of Wisconsin. I guess they bypass it because of Culver's. For many years Woodman's bypassed the Milwaukee area although that changed. While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While it may not count as retail there is only one Freddy's Custard in all of Wisconsin. I guess they bypass it because of Culver's. For many years Woodman's bypassed the Milwaukee area although that changed. While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
Although Culver's got its feet wet in Kentucky first, Freddy's is starting to make inroads. Apparently Freddy's isn't afraid of the competition here.
I don't know how ubiquitous Culver's is in that area, but on a trip to the upper midwest a few years ago, I noted that Decorah, Iowa, has exactly two fast-food restaurants -- McDonald's and Culver's.
No Costco locations in the southern suburbs of Detroit.
They bought several of the former Home Quarters locations, but didn't buy the one in Southgate because Sam's Club was next door.
BJ's has opened a store to Taylor.
Quote from: hbelkins on June 02, 2023, 04:34:43 PM
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While it may not count as retail there is only one Freddy's Custard in all of Wisconsin. I guess they bypass it because of Culver's. For many years Woodman's bypassed the Milwaukee area although that changed. While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
Although Culver's got its feet wet in Kentucky first, Freddy's is starting to make inroads. Apparently Freddy's isn't afraid of the competition here.
I don't know how ubiquitous Culver's is in that area, but on a trip to the upper midwest a few years ago, I noted that Decorah, Iowa, has exactly two fast-food restaurants -- McDonald's and Culver's.
To watch Culver's grow in Indiana has been impressive came to the state in early 2000's and now has close to 80 locations.
I'm curious if they will try that strategy with Kentucky.
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https://locations.wafflehouse.com/
https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/ihop-shuts-down-its-fast-casual-spinoff-flipd
https://www.dinebrands.com/en
https://www.dinebrands.com/en/brands
Waffle House this restaurant chain is not known in Sacramento and San Francisco. Whenever we hear waffle house it sounds like a parody name of IHOP or Denny's which are known in California. But Waffle House is known in the rest of the USA.
^^ Waffle House is mainly in the southeast and not known in other areas.
Quote from: Big John on June 02, 2023, 07:07:49 PM
^^ Waffle House is mainly in the southeast and not known in other areas.
Oh, it is known. It is quite well known. Infamous, even.
I never heard of it in Wisconsin until I had a job in Georgia.
Quote from: Bruce on June 01, 2023, 07:31:18 PM
Sam's Club pulled out of the Seattle area a few years ago. One of their former stores is slated to become Seattle proper's second Costco (took them long enough to do it).
Hey, cool. If they had a store closer to me than Shoreline I'd think about joining.
Sam's Club has also bypassed the immediate Boston area (I believe they had locations here before), although they have locations in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 03, 2023, 06:53:41 AM
Sam's Club has also bypassed the immediate Boston area (I believe they had locations here before), although they have locations in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Used to have one in Worcester, other than that I don't remember any around our area of Massachusetts. When I worked at Walmart in the late 90's, they had a guy come in and offer payroll-deduction for memberships there, then had to mention the closest one was over 15 miles away.
(In true Walmart fashion, there wasn't a dime of a discount for membership to Walmart employees, just that you could conveniently pay it in 52 installments out of your check)
For my internship, I had to identify certain categories of shops in Massachusetts. I can confirm that there are zero Sam's Clubs.
Quote from: Big John on June 02, 2023, 07:07:49 PM
^^ Waffle House is mainly in the southeast and not known in other areas.
From a very quick Google maps search, the northernmost Waffle House was just completed in Toledo, on Monroe Street not two miles south of the Michigan border. There is a finger of Waffle Houses climbing I-75 north from Dayton and Cincinnati; Columbus has them as well.
Are there any Waffle Houses farther north than Toledo? I saw none in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Milwaukee or MSP.
Quote from: westerninterloper on June 03, 2023, 05:40:53 PM
Quote from: Big John on June 02, 2023, 07:07:49 PM
^^ Waffle House is mainly in the southeast and not known in other areas.
From a very quick Google maps search, the northernmost Waffle House was just completed in Toledo, on Monroe Street not two miles south of the Michigan border. There is a finger of Waffle Houses climbing I-75 north from Dayton and Cincinnati; Columbus has them as well.
Are there any Waffle Houses farther north than Toledo? I saw none in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Milwaukee or MSP.
There is a Waffle House in Austinburg, OH in the northeast corner of the state. I think that has the distinction of being the northernmost Waffle House location.
Quote from: Dough4872 on June 03, 2023, 07:29:03 PM
Quote from: westerninterloper on June 03, 2023, 05:40:53 PM
Quote from: Big John on June 02, 2023, 07:07:49 PM
^^ Waffle House is mainly in the southeast and not known in other areas.
From a very quick Google maps search, the northernmost Waffle House was just completed in Toledo, on Monroe Street not two miles south of the Michigan border. There is a finger of Waffle Houses climbing I-75 north from Dayton and Cincinnati; Columbus has them as well.
Are there any Waffle Houses farther north than Toledo? I saw none in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Milwaukee or MSP.
There is a Waffle House in Austinburg, OH in the northeast corner of the state. I think that has the distinction of being the northernmost Waffle House location.
Thanks - I see a cluster of them in NE Ohio now, not sure why they didn't show up earlier. Southern influence is coming up the Dixie highways.
Quote from: westerninterloper on June 03, 2023, 07:52:33 PM
Quote from: Dough4872 on June 03, 2023, 07:29:03 PM
Quote from: westerninterloper on June 03, 2023, 05:40:53 PM
Quote from: Big John on June 02, 2023, 07:07:49 PM
^^ Waffle House is mainly in the southeast and not known in other areas.
From a very quick Google maps search, the northernmost Waffle House was just completed in Toledo, on Monroe Street not two miles south of the Michigan border. There is a finger of Waffle Houses climbing I-75 north from Dayton and Cincinnati; Columbus has them as well.
Are there any Waffle Houses farther north than Toledo? I saw none in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Milwaukee or MSP.
There is a Waffle House in Austinburg, OH in the northeast corner of the state. I think that has the distinction of being the northernmost Waffle House location.
Thanks - I see a cluster of them in NE Ohio now, not sure why they didn't show up earlier. Southern influence is coming up the Dixie highways.
NEOH is big on Bob Evans, Perkins and IHOP and has been for decades. However, Bob Evans has been sputtering a bit since the family ceded day-to-day operation of the chain in the early 00s. That was around the time that Waffle House decided to enter the Ohio market as it did, IIRC.
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While it may not count as retail there is only one Freddy's Custard in all of Wisconsin. I guess they bypass it because of Culver's. For many years Woodman's bypassed the Milwaukee area although that changed. While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
Freddy's is opening a second Wisconsin location in Bellevue.
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
I'm thinking that has something to do with Dillard's being established in the Richmond area.
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on June 06, 2023, 10:00:50 AM
I'm thinking that has something to do with Dillard's being established in the Richmond area.
The old Thalheimer's chain was the main obstruction to the Richmond market. Belk was having a hard enough time fighting off Thalheimer's on its own turf in North Carolina. But after Thalheimer's got purchased by Hechts, it lost most of its Southern flair and that allowed Belk to gain a niche market. Richmond would probably be a good market for Belk, but it has had enough off-and-on financial struggles that expansion into [rough territority] wasn't practicable.
Quote from: Brandon on June 12, 2022, 04:54:47 PM
Quote from: MikieTimT on June 12, 2022, 02:41:48 PM
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.
Guess it's grown enough to warrant one now.
Costco announces plan to open its first Northwest Arkansas store (https://www.axios.com/local/nw-arkansas/2023/05/16/costco-opening-announced-northwest-arkansas)
On a side note, NWA has now passed Chattanooga, TN for the 100 spot on the largest metros.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area)
Kroger doesn't have any locations in Evansville Indiana
SM-G996U
Quote from: ibthebigd on June 12, 2023, 02:52:31 PM
Kroger doesn't have any locations in Evansville Indiana
SM-G996U
Kroger used to have locations in Evansville, Princeton, and Vincennes (V-city was the most recent to close). Kroger pulled out of the other cities probably in the late 60s...could have been early 70s, but I've slept a few times since. Their closest location now is Owensboro, KY. We do have Kroger's cut rate brand, Ruler Foods.
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on June 06, 2023, 10:00:50 AM
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
I'm thinking that has something to do with Dillard's being established in the Richmond area.
A couple of the Dillard's used to be Belk in the 90s. The now-closed one at Southpark Mall, for sure, was originally called Leggett when the mall opened, and then was Belk for a few years, with the same script font, until they swapped some stores with Dillard's. I think the closest Belk to Richmond is in Williamsburg.
Quote from: Takumi on June 22, 2023, 10:50:32 AM
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on June 06, 2023, 10:00:50 AM
Quote from: dvferyance on June 01, 2023, 09:21:55 PM
While not my area I noticed Belk bypasses Richmond VA for whatever reason.
I'm thinking that has something to do with Dillard's being established in the Richmond area.
A couple of the Dillard's used to be Belk in the 90s. The now-closed one at Southpark Mall, for sure, was originally called Leggett when the mall opened, and then was Belk for a few years, with the same script font, until they swapped some stores with Dillard's. I think the closest Belk to Richmond is in Williamsburg.
Yeah, there's a Belk in Spotsylvania (a little further away than Williamsburg) and it used to be a Leggett.
Boone has Waffle House, but Jefferson, Wilkesboro and Yadkinville have, to my knowledge, never had WaHo, even though all three locations are on regionally significant and well-traveled corridors
For many years, Parks Belk operated stores in the smaller cities surrounding Nashville, like Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting, but not Nashville itself due to stiff competition from Castner Knott and Cain Sloan (later Dillard's). There still isn't one in Nashville, but the former Parisian location at Cool Springs Galleria in Franklin eventually became a Belk, and that mall is basically a Nashville mall.
No Wal*Marts in NYC
Well now the Kum and Go has expanded into Michigan it would be them. While not my area another example would be Blain's Farm and Fleet recent expansion into Michigan but they skipped over Indiana.
Quote from: wriddle082 on August 25, 2023, 08:31:28 PM
For many years, Parks Belk operated stores in the smaller cities surrounding Nashville, like Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting, but not Nashville itself due to stiff competition from Castner Knott and Cain Sloan (later Dillard's). There still isn't one in Nashville, but the former Parisian location at Cool Springs Galleria in Franklin eventually became a Belk, and that mall is basically a Nashville mall.
Speaking of Belk and example of that is they bypassed Richmond. There is a Belk further north in Fredericksburg.
Quote from: dvferyance on August 26, 2023, 06:26:21 PM
Quote from: wriddle082 on August 25, 2023, 08:31:28 PM
For many years, Parks Belk operated stores in the smaller cities surrounding Nashville, like Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting, but not Nashville itself due to stiff competition from Castner Knott and Cain Sloan (later Dillard's). There still isn't one in Nashville, but the former Parisian location at Cool Springs Galleria in Franklin eventually became a Belk, and that mall is basically a Nashville mall.
Speaking of Belk and example of that is they bypassed Richmond. There is a Belk further north in Fredericksburg.
They didn't bypass Richmond; rather, they withdrew from the market by selling all their Richmond-area stores to Dillard's.
The farthest North I believe I have seen a Belk is (was?) in the Cranberry/Town Mall in Westminster MD
Quote from: Takumi on August 26, 2023, 06:30:11 PM
Quote from: dvferyance on August 26, 2023, 06:26:21 PM
Quote from: wriddle082 on August 25, 2023, 08:31:28 PM
For many years, Parks Belk operated stores in the smaller cities surrounding Nashville, like Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, and maybe some others that I'm forgetting, but not Nashville itself due to stiff competition from Castner Knott and Cain Sloan (later Dillard's). There still isn't one in Nashville, but the former Parisian location at Cool Springs Galleria in Franklin eventually became a Belk, and that mall is basically a Nashville mall.
Speaking of Belk and example of that is they bypassed Richmond. There is a Belk further north in Fredericksburg.
They didn't bypass Richmond; rather, they withdrew from the market by selling all their Richmond-area stores to Dillard's.
So they used to be in Richmond. I wonder why they pulled out. I am not from the south but I get the idea Belk is very popular down there.
Belk had a very circuitous route with all their locally owned stores in small towns. They were still doing that into the 2010s in some markets.
Raleigh IIRC was Hudson Belk. Charleston has always been straight ahead Belk as long as I can remember, but most other markets were locally owned. Wilmington was Belk Beery.
They reached saturation with their stores in smaller shopping centers. We had one nearby open in the 1950s and not close until 2005. It was probably 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a mall Belk but it served the higher-end part of West Ashley and James Island very well.
Smaller towns in the area like Walterboro and Georgetown with under 10,000 people still have mostly full-line Belk stores as they have held onto them for decades.
SM-G998U
https://www.gerrysgrill.com/usa#branches
Here's another Gerry's Grill it's a good place when I went there but it's not everywhere yet. Note it known in the Philippines but not in lots of places in the USA yet.
Quote from: SectorZ on June 03, 2023, 08:21:30 AM
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on June 03, 2023, 06:53:41 AM
Sam's Club has also bypassed the immediate Boston area (I believe they had locations here before), although they have locations in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Used to have one in Worcester, other than that I don't remember any around our area of Massachusetts. When I worked at Walmart in the late 90's, they had a guy come in and offer payroll-deduction for memberships there, then had to mention the closest one was over 15 miles away.
(In true Walmart fashion, there wasn't a dime of a discount for membership to Walmart employees, just that you could conveniently pay it in 52 installments out of your check)
There was once 3 Sam's Clubs in CT (Manchester, Newington, Orange). Only the Newington one remains. There are 8 Costco locations and 13 BJ's statewide.
There are no Waffle Houses in College Station, Texas.
Here in the Jackson, MS area, we just recently got Chipotle. Three are already opened (Flowood, Madison and Ridgeland) and fourth one is coming to Pearl.
We just got our first Bojangles a few weeks ago. It's just up the street from our first area Aldi store.
Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.
Quote from: kernals12 on December 15, 2023, 11:58:02 AM
Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.
That's not a negative.
Quote from: kernals12 on December 15, 2023, 11:58:02 AM
Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.
We're well underserved by Papa John's in CT. We can give you one of our 5 Sonics. Even RHODE Island has a couple.
In all seriousness, it seems like Little Caesar's has a fairly urban, working class customer base in New England. They have locations in Roslindale, Cambridge, Lynn, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, and 2 locations in Worcester, but nothing in the leafy suburbs between 95 and 495. And in Fairfield County, they only have locations in Bridgeport and Danbury, nothing in the Gold Coast towns.
I find these kinds of patterns to be interesting.
I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2023, 06:06:18 PM
I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.
We have a few more-authentic drive-ins around here, mostly known as Stewards or Weber's. They are much, much better than Sonic.
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2023, 06:06:18 PM
I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.
They had one in Wilmington MA not too far from me. It was great when it opened, but soon in anytime I went it was a complete disaster in all phases of the game. It closed only 7 years after it opened. The others in Mass have survived but this one just couldn't get out of its own way.
I appreciated having a different choice from the big 3 of fast food for a little while at least.
Quote from: SectorZ on December 16, 2023, 06:58:08 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2023, 06:06:18 PM
I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.
They had one in Wilmington MA not too far from me. It was great when it opened, but soon in anytime I went it was a complete disaster in all phases of the game. It closed only 7 years after it opened. The others in Mass have survived but this one just couldn't get out of its own way.
I appreciated having a different choice from the big 3 of fast food for a little while at least.
The one in Lawrence closed, too.
Publix
They serve Middle and East Tennessee, but don't serve West Tennessee, I feel they can serve both Memphis and Jackson.
Quote from: 1 on December 16, 2023, 09:11:27 PM
Quote from: SectorZ on December 16, 2023, 06:58:08 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2023, 06:06:18 PM
I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.
They had one in Wilmington MA not too far from me. It was great when it opened, but soon in anytime I went it was a complete disaster in all phases of the game. It closed only 7 years after it opened. The others in Mass have survived but this one just couldn't get out of its own way.
I appreciated having a different choice from the big 3 of fast food for a little while at least.
The one in Lawrence closed, too.
I assumedly lived 8-10 miles from it yet never even knew it existed. Per GSV it looks like it closed around the same time as the Wilmington one. Probably the same franchisee I imagine.
Quote from: Daniel Fiddler on December 17, 2023, 12:07:00 PM
Publix
They serve Middle and East Tennessee, but don't serve West Tennessee, I feel they can serve both Memphis and Jackson.
They would probably need a closer distribution center for their fresh foods. Nashville is as far west as they go in the Volunteer State.
At the rate they expand, give them 3-10 years.
"Area" in this case being my town and a 10 mile radius around it.
This is passe now, but we never had a new bookstore in my town. We did have a used one for about six months, around 2010.
10 miles to the west puts you in the I-270 corridor which is where the new bookstores are/were.
Well, Jackson and the Memphis suburbs can absolutely support one.
I created a chart for West Tennessee showing where could and could not support one:
(https://primary.jwwb.nl/public/q/k/j/temp-ufnkekxusjlgzurjqhfm/c1nnmv/tennesseepublix-5.png?enable-io=true&enable=upscale&crop=1127%2C1671%2Cx0%2Cy0%2Csafe&width=1085&height=1609"%20srcset="https://primary.jwwb.nl/public/q/k/j/temp-ufnkekxusjlgzurjqhfm/c1nnmv/tennesseepublix-5.png?enable-io=true&enable=upscale&crop=1127%2C1671%2Cx0%2Cy0%2Csafe&width=1085&height=1609%201085w,%20https://primary.jwwb.nl/public/q/k/j/temp-ufnkekxusjlgzurjqhfm/tennesseepublix-5.png%20800w)
I think it's just because they haven't gone west of the Alabama/Mississippi state line yet. There ain't any in Mississippi either, for example.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on December 18, 2023, 10:26:41 PM
I think it's just because they haven't gone west of the Alabama/Mississippi state line yet. There ain't any in Mississippi either, for example.
Quite possible.
I didn't think of that.
Although they serve Middle and East Tennessee and skipped West, which didn't make sense since Germantown, Collierville, and Bartlett are certainly affluent enough to support one. And Jackson has "commuters" from all over the western part of the state for their shopping, dining, and medical needs, pretty much all counties except Shelby.
It's not a skip if the "skipped" area is farther away geographically than anywhere currently served.
It's like me complaining that there are no Cook Out locations in Florida. Could Tallahassee support one? Absolutely it could. But they're based in North Carolina and have only expanded south as far as Alabama and Georgia. We don't have one here because we're too far away from their current footprint. Supposedly we're getting one soon in Tallahassee; when that opens, it's not like they will have "skipped" Miami...it's just so far south of their territory.
Quote from: US 89 on December 19, 2023, 08:17:58 AM
It's not a skip if the "skipped" area is farther away geographically than anywhere currently served.
It's like me complaining that there are no Cook Out locations in Florida. Could Tallahassee support one? Absolutely it could. But they're based in North Carolina and have only expanded south as far as Alabama and Georgia. We don't have one here because we're too far away from their current footprint. Supposedly we're getting one soon in Tallahassee; when that opens, it's not like they will have "skipped" Miami...it's just so far south of their territory.
They serve Richmond, Virginia and will shortly be serving Louisville, Kentucky. Both cities are further than Memphis and Jackson.
But I guess you're right. Memphis and Jackson are further WEST than they have expanded yet.
Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2023, 06:06:18 PM
I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.
Sonic was in all the rural areas before it moved everywhere then. Summerville, Moncks Corner, and Goose Creek all were very suburban areas, Moncks Corner more rural, and Sonic was already there in all by 1997.
They used to show ads on TV which would flash the locations.
These aren't exactly my area (Jackson), but major companies that skipped areas NEAR me, and these can be considered legitimate skipping, not "not expanding further":
Bahama Breeze and Capital Grille skipped Nashville. Not Darden entirely, just those particular restaurants. Metro Nashville has over 2.2 million and can support both. Neither serve Jackson, but Jackson is not large enough to support them.
Starbuck's skipped indubitably Dyersburg and possibly Union City and Martin. The former one is absolutely large enough and affluent enough (15,000 and $45,000 a year), and is on an Interstate, even if just a 3DI now, although I-69 will be coming in later. The latter two there have been smaller towns that have supported Starbuck's, and I-69 will eventually arrive in Union City, and Martin has a major university. Starbuck's does serve Jackson, there are eight here. There are more Starbuck's here than there are McDonald's and almost as many as there are Sonics.
Chick-Fil-A skipped Union City and Martin as well. They serve McKenzie of all places, if McKenzie is large enough, Union City and Martin are plenty large enough for damn sure. They serve Jackson, we got I think three here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%26L_Hawaiian_Barbecue
https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2022-04-15/l-l-hawaiian-barbecue-celebrates-70th-anniversary
L&L the first time I saw them was during my visit to Hawaii Near the Polynesian Cultural center in Oahu. But at that time L&L didn't exist on the mainland yet. Then a year later the company expanded their operations to the Mainland like California.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culver%27s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Castle_(restaurant)
Culvers and White Castle are completely unknown in California yet they get advertised nationwide.
I remember seeing Roy Rogers ads on TV in the 80s, but the only one I knew of was on the Mass pike eastbound at the Charlton Service Plaza (prior to the rebuilding in the early 2000s).
In the upstate NY market O'Reilly Auto Parts. Yet they advertised on radio for more than a decade here. They recently opened locations in Rochester, NY