Guess What’s Going in at Battle Creek’s Old Don Pablo Location?

Don Pablo’s Restaurant has been empty for almost five years.   About the only news since that time from the southeast corner of the property that houses Lakeview Square Mall was when the property managers cut down a bunch of trees that were not on their property.   That was in 2017.

The area has shown signs of life lately, as Horrocks announced they’ll be moving into the former J.C. Penney store later this summer or fall.   The former “Pier 1 Imports” across Beckley Road recently became an auto parts store.  The scary Toys R Us behind it is a big U-Haul and storage place.

So what’s going in at Don Pablo’s?   Could it be someplace where you can still get a big burrito and a grape Nehi?   You may have heard, and probably won’t be shocked.  That’s right.  Another weed place.   Seriously?   Another weed store?  It’s like when Ralphie finally got his secret decoder ring in “A Christmas Story”, and when he decoded the secret message, it said, “Don’t forget to drink your Ovaltine.”

Some have joked that even a General Dollar would be better. After all, there isn’t another General Dollar for at least a quarter-mile away, at least as of this writing.

The city of Battle Creek posts a list of Medical Marihuana Facility Applications, and there are 32 of them and that doesn’t even include those in Emmett Township or other local areas.  Of those 32 in Battle Creek, only about 10 are listed as having final approval.   Included in the Battle Creek list is the Pure Roots LLC application for the former Don Pablo’s at 5805 Beckley Road.

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It’s not like it really matters if we get another place that sells marijuana in Battle Creek.  Nobody is forcing you to go.   But people were pulling for another restaurant.  After all, can you really have too many restaurants?    The question we’ve been hearing a lot though, is “How many weed stores do we need?”

Back in the late 1960s, snowmobiles were all the rage and at least 250 companies were making and selling the contraptions.  A few years later, and there were about 4.   That’s probably what we’ll see with these marijuana companies.