Remember when you were a kid and the excitement that came with being able to stop in at one of those fast food restaurants that you always saw ads for on TV?
This wasn't the food you normally got at home on any given Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night. No no no, this was special! Your family was actually going out You were going to that place that had those commercials on TV where the jingle lodged itself in your brain and you just got a craving that can't be satiated fast enough!
On you went to that McDonald's, or Wendy's, or A&W, or INSERT ANY MILLION OTHER CHOICES HERE!
In Outlook, it was announced just over a year ago that the riverside community was getting a Dairy Queen location. There was excitement over something new and positivity over the arrival of a trusted brand name that people could easily identify. However, matching that excitement and positivity were feelings of weariness and negativity by some folks in the area. You know the type I'm talking about: "How dare that business come into our town and affect THIS business or THAT one?"
Before I get into that, let me touch on my own personal history with the DQ brand. There's a DQ location over in the community of Rosetown, and that particular spot brings up a lot of memories for me over the years. When my aunt Verna was dying in the hospital over there when I was 16, I remember a meal or two shared there. What can I say? It was quick, it was simple, and it was there. Or whenever there was a boring Saturday or Sunday night in the summer or the fall, my mom would suggest a Rosetown run to DQ, and I can remember being in the SUV with her, and I would drive so that she could enjoy the ride and just look at all the farm land in the area. It would bring up memories that she would talk about, and I could always tell that she enjoyed those momentary trips to her past.
We'd grab our ice cream, sit in the parking lot, and just watch the highway traffic go on by.
Some of my best memories of my mom are times like those; the "hum-drum" moments in life where you just need to get out of the house and go find something fun to do. On evenings like those, they involved some driving, some ice cream, and some conversation about times that have passed in our lives.
It's a little biting, realizing that she isn't here now to see the Dairy Queen that just opened in Outlook. I can just picture taking her through the drive-thru, buying her an ice cream (typically she liked the butterscotch sundaes), and then sitting in the parking lot.
So, getting back to the topic at hand, with Outlook's location having opened up earlier this month, I'll counter the argument of any naysayers with this: Why do you want your community to stand still and not progress?
And I get the argument that's typically presented here - "If they open this business, it's going to harm these other ones!" But let's go ahead and take another look back at Rosetown, for example. Rosetown, maybe a 35-40 minute cruise west of Outlook, has a population very similar to Outlook, with maybe a couple hundred more people in their numbers. When you look at the business directory over there, you see not only a Dairy Queen, but also an A&W, a 7/11 store, and a Tim Horton's location. Has the existence of such places crippled Rosetown's other restaurants? Looking at the traffic on some days, I'd have to say that I doubt it. Heck, even I'm a big fan of that one restaurant on Main Street.
My point is this: familiar amenities such as fast food joints aren't there to cripple or deplete a town's business corridor. They're there to only *add* to them.
There's room for everybody. Outlook's dining options are burgers, sandwiches, Chinese food, and pizza (including a new 2-for-1 Family Pizza joint that's going to open in the former Lucky Dragon location on Saskatchewan Avenue), and they're all enjoyable places that cook delicious food. And if you don't mind a very short cruise next door over in Broderick, there's a great steakhouse. And of course, everyone has their favorites and their opinions on each place's menu. This place might make the best burger, while that place might make the best wonton soup, while that place might make the best steak you'll eat anywhere.
Frankly, if you ask me, I'd say it's about damn time that Outlook move into a more modern age by having fast food options in the community area. We just got a DQ and another pizza joint is on the way, so what else can we do? How about a Cajun joint? Anyone like Mexican grub?
Adding on to a town's business profile is the furthest thing from harm. It only adds to the overall picture.
You just have to give people choices, and hope that they continue to darken your doorstep to enjoy your product.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
