What’s Happening With Dairy Queen On Lovers Lane?
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article insinuated that this Dairy Queen location is closed. It has since been updated to clear up any confusion.
In the past few weeks, some activity has been going on in the Dairy Queen that is on the corner of Cork Street and Lovers Lane. For years, Kalamazoo residents could stop by this corner and get their favorite Blizzard, smash on some chili cheese dogs, or even take home some buster bars, but now the ice cream shop could be undergoing some drastic changes.
Of course, not everyone has been happy with this specific Dairy Queen location. Some have had complaints about the owner and how he treated the shop, others haven't liked the workers or their customer service, and now some are saying the building looks terrible.
In the Milwood Neighborhood Hangout Facebook Group, Nickie W. asked
"Does anybody know what's going on with Dairy Queen? The sign is down & a For Sale sign recently went up. So sad if they leave this neighborhood!"
Many comments underneath wanted to see the shop go or wanted that area to be purchased by the city. Upon scrolling further Karen M. responded, "The owner wants to sell but the city took the sign down. It has since been cleaned up and two women work inside from 11 am to 7 pm daily to keep it open."
Now, anytime a commercial space in Kalamazoo becomes available to purchase the usually guesses or really "tired" assumptions come rolling through first. The normal suspects like a Dollar General, credit union, or cannabis dispensary are always the first options thrown out by the public and I would say they have a 50/50 chance most of the time. Since I live in this neighborhood, I have reason to believe this won't be the case this time.
They literally just finished building the Kalsee Credit Union that's a few hundred feet away on the corner of Cork and Portage Streets. There's also the Old National Bank across the street and both OMNI and Consumers Credit Union down the road. There's also a Dollar General on Portage Street and a Family Dollar on Cork Street, so now that those two are taken care of, there's the last monster, cannabis.
There are already two Cannabis dispensaries in the neighborhood, Mint which is on Cork Street, and then Cookies which is on Portage Street. Also down the road on Milham is Bud and Marys, but there's also better provisioning on Portage Road as well. Lastly, there are a host of dispensaries located on Sprinkle Road, meaning adding another would make this area deeply condensed with cannabis.
Of course, there's still the possibility that this Dairy Queen keeps its business running. Until the matter surrounding the building is sorted, that's just what it'll do in the meantime.
If something was to replace the popular ice cream chain, what should it be? I mean we could use another food spot as we can never have too many food places right? Obviously, there are endless options that could take over this space, so what do you think?