<p>Henri Bendel to THE MALL in our area. Another place to buy pricey accessories for girls.</p>
<p>^^^Wegman’s and Trader Joe’s? No, that would be totally unfair, frazzled1! </p>
<p>We do have Five Guys. It’s good, especially the fries. Not stand-in-line-for-an-hour good, but good. Bad atmosphere, though.</p>
<p>We had the same phenomenon here for Quiznos and Moe’s. Lines out the door for weeks after they opened. Not now, though. But the folks around here are still in awe of the Cheesecake Factory, and that’s been open for a few years now.</p>
<p>We finally got a Sephora.</p>
<p>ghostfire–Which Bloomington? IL, IN, or MN? We have Bob Evans in my Bloomington. The rest of the family is a fan, but I’m not. </p>
<p>I wish we had an IHOP, Nordstrom Rack (never going to happen), Uno’s, a Portillo’s (a Chicago chain), Trader Joe’s (again-unlikely) and any number of other stores. Anyone willing to trade a Sonic or Bob Evans for any of the above?</p>
<p>Right, we don’t have Costco. Plus, I’d like a Penzeys Spices. Cabelas would sure boost the economy here. How about a nice Jersey diner? </p>
<p>I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Parts of my area don’t even have cable TV access.</p>
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<p>The deal with In-N-Out is that it is not franchised, and there is no publicly-traded stock. The company and every store is privately owned by the same family. So they are very cautious about expanding too quickly or beyond what they can manage. They are adamant about keeping the quality up at all their locations. </p>
<p>They only recently expanded as far east as Utah. It was a breakthrough a few years ago when they opened a store in Las Vegas - the first outside of California after more than 50 years in operation as a SoCal-only chain. So barring a change in company policy, it’s going to be a long time before they make it to the east coast.</p>
<p>In-N-Out succeeds by concentrating on doing what they do best: burgers, fries, shakes, and cokes. That’s it. No trendy chicken tenders or salad bars for them. Their menu has not changed in over 50 years.</p>
<p>The saga of In-N-Out is actually an interesting soap opera. They were founded and run for many decades by the same guy. As he grew old he groomed his two sons to take over. He retired and died and they took over. But they both died young for different reasons. So ownership fell to the sole grandchild of the founder, a girl who was at the time about 17 years old and just heading off to college. </p>
<p>She became the focus of an internal power struggle between a couple of different company execs with competing visions for the company, each seeking to control everything through her. To put a stop to this, the old grandma, the widow of the founder, came out of retirement to run the company and take the heat off the girl while she went to college and gained more experience running the burger business. Grandma died a couple of years ago, and so the granddaughter is back in charge. She’s probably about 24 or 25 now. In-N-Out devotees are very worried about the future - will they be able to keep it going the way they have all these years? Or will they get McDonaldized and ruin one of the jewels of Southern California?</p>
<p>Ha…Small town here. We have to drive about 40 minutes to get to a chain/big box store.
We have a few fast food stores about 10 minutes away.
I’ve found that I can get things online and that I don’t buy a lot because I’m not in the stores looking at it. When I need something I have to make an effort…kind of like freezing your credit card and having to wait for it to thaw to use it.</p>
<p>How about – what sorts of independent shops or restaurants do you wish would open near you? You know … the kind of shop where the owner’s on the sales floor and knows their stock. Where the staff is friendly and helpful and takes a genuine interest? Where the merchandise is tailored to the specifics of your area and not just the brainstorm of the buyer in Milwaukee when you are in Mobile …</p>
<p>I’ll vote for a really great family restaurant. Not too upscale and not too fast food. Where mom and dad can get something yummy and delicious and the kids are happy also. And it doens’t cost the earth to go out to dinner.</p>
<p>cnp55, there is a great restaurant just like that in Norwalk: It’s called Jordan’s. Very family-style, with terrific and inexpensive Italian dishes. Get yourself a salad and a lasagna and you’ll have enough for three more meals.</p>
<p>Edit: Enough food, I mean. You’ll need a huge take-out box to get it all home.</p>
<p>^^Lots of Mexican restaurants around here fit that description.</p>
<p>We also have a hardware like that. My favorite part is, over the speaker, they frequently announce “I need a young man!”</p>
<p>I’m not exactly sure this fits, but we in the Atlanta metro area would LOVE for Southwest Airlines to come here! When, oh when, will it ever happen?</p>
<p>Otherwise, we have most everything else y’all have mentioned (particular faves being Trader Joe’s and Waffle House)</p>
<p>We need a Round Table Pizza and El Pollo Loco on the East Coast… and In’n’Out…</p>
<p>My parents still live in the same small town I grew up in. That would be the only place in the US (according to my sister) “without a Starbucks or a Gap”.</p>
<p>Now they have a Starbucks. Still no Gap.</p>
<p>Compared to that I have all I need where I live. Oh, except for a good bagel place.</p>
<p>Frazzled - I would trade one of the many Wegmans here for ONE Trader Joes!</p>
<p>Also (most have been mentioned) - Nordstrom, Lululemon (gotta go to Canada for that), Ikea, Whole Foods, Baja Fresh, El Pollo Loco, Sonic (kids miss that from when grandparents lived in Charlotte)</p>
<p>We HAD a Bahama Breeze here, I want it to some back!!!</p>
<p>FINALLY getting an Anthropologie store here next month, that is one prayer answered!</p>
<p>Ummmm – no one’s mentioned White Castle. DH would LOVE for one of those to come here!</p>
<p>Trader Joe’s and Costco. </p>
<p>Other than that, I want the independents to flourish. I want the Portland Greengrocer back, and Portland Spice and Trading. And Bookland.</p>
<p>Bunsen- I live in Ballard- we recently got a Trader Joes, and a Whole foods in Interbay, although I never go there.
The Counter ( burgers) opened next to Trader Joes ( which I do visit), but why go there when you have Red Mill?</p>
<p>Ikea is a trek to get to I admit but Fred Meyer is close.</p>
<p>Oldest D & I went down to Ballard last light for some cocktails and appetizers and we were wondering what all the soggy paper bags were for?
[My</a> Ballard » News, events and restaurants in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood](<a href=“http://www.myballard.com/]My”>http://www.myballard.com/)</p>
<p>Consolation are you in Portland- do you ever go to Limbo? They are next to Trader Joes in SE.</p>
<p>Portland, Maine :)</p>
<p>oh- so probably a long drive for you.
I hear ya about the chains though</p>
<p>I try and go to independents whenever possible, cause they are just more interesting and if I wanted to move to strip mall land I would.
;)</p>
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<p>NEVER, as long as Delta runs the ATL. :(</p>
<p>I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I would love for Jack-in the-box to come to Atlanta. It is usually the first place I ask to go to when I go home to CA.</p>
<p>Southwest<em>almost</em> bought some smaller airline (I think it was frontier maybe??) which would have given them 2 gates at Hartsfield Jackson, but some other airline won the contract (bought the airline 
). Int he past,the pres of frontier, after some run in with the now defunct Eastern airlines and effort to get gates in Atl, said theyd NEVER own a gate here.</p>
<p>You go talk to Jack, GA2012mom?? we used to do that in college-- but had no car. Just walked up to the drive up window. :)</p>