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

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

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

[wriddle082]

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.

[Otto Yamamoto]

No Wal*Marts in NYC

[dvferyance]

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.

[dvferyance]

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.

[Takumi]

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.

[sbeaver44]

The farthest North I believe I have seen a Belk is (was?) in the Cranberry/Town Mall in Westminster MD

[dvferyance]

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.

[Sctvhound]

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

[bing101]

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.

[jp the roadgeek]

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.

[CtrlAltDel]

There are no Waffle Houses in College Station, Texas.

[golden eagle]

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.

[kernals12]

Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.

[Rothman]

Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.

That's not a negative.

[jp the roadgeek]

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.

[The Nature Boy]

Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.

That's not a negative.

How dare you

[Rothman]

Here in Boston, we seem to be underserved by Little Caesar's and Sonic.

That's not a negative.

How dare you

Disparage Little Caesar's and Sonic?  Not much of a dare.

[kernals12]

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.

[Scott5114]

I wish y'all had gotten to experience Sonic before it sucked. Early 2000s Sonic was incredible.

[jeffandnicole]

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.

[SectorZ]

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.

[hotdogPi]

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.

[Daniel Fiddler]

Publix

They serve Middle and East Tennessee, but don't serve West Tennessee, I feel they can serve both Memphis and Jackson.

[SectorZ]

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.