EDMONDS — Retro-style burger joint Dick’s Drive-In on Friday announced its first new location in more than 30 years — and it was an Edmonds kind of day.
The Seattle-based chain plans to build its sixth restaurant next to the TOP Food &Drug supermarket at the northwest corner of Highway 99 and 220th Street SW. If all goes as planned, the new branch with the trademark orange, yellow and white decor would open in late 2011.
“This is just the kind of business that Edmonds looks for,” said Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper, who thanked city staff for their work with the company. “We look for businesses that are family-owned and look to bring jobs into the community.”
Edmonds was the victor in a regional contest to land the first Dick’s since the restaurant opened a location at the bottom of Queen Anne Hill in 1974.
Ron Schmeer, a company vice president, made the announcement Friday morning outside the original Dick’s on 45th Street in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. The event coincided with the 87th birthday of Dick’s co-founder, Dick Spady, who sat beside Schmeer, his nephew.
The company in August launched a campaign to decide whether to expand to the north, east or south of Seattle. The new spot had to be within a 20-mile radius of the University of Washington. Lynnwood, Bothell, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds and south Everett surfaced as possibilities in Snohomish County.
The company set up an online poll asking people to vote for general areas for the newest franchise. The north option won with 52,810 votes — or 45 percent of the total 115,524 votes cast.
After a seven-week search, Dick’s reached an agreement with Bellingham-based Haggen Food and Pharmacy, which owns TOP, to purchase land at 21900 Highway 99, in the northeast corner of the grocery’s parking lot.
Dick’s is placing its latest venture at a strategic crossroads a short distance from I-5.
Premera Blue Cross is within walking distance, Swedish/Edmonds hospital next door and Edmonds-Woodway High School just around the corner.
“I enjoy that place,” said Jeremy Douglas, a 16-year-old Edmonds-Woodway student. “I think they have good food and it’s cheap and the closest location is Lake City and it takes a long time to get there.”
Bryant Ponce, a 20-year-old Edmonds Community College student studying computer networks, said, “Everybody knows Dick’s even though it’s down in Seattle.”
The news didn’t just get students salivating over burgers, fries and shakes. There also was the lure of a company that has a reputation for offering employees decent wages and college scholarships.
“You can look forward to working there,” said Nathan Love, a 19-year-old culinary student at Edmonds CC. “You’re more proud working there because you’d feel some sense of accomplishment because they really help you out.”
When the Wallingford Dick’s opened in 1954, it was one of the first fast-food joints in Seattle. During the next 20 years, the company opened a total of six restaurants in the Seattle area. One restaurant in Bellevue didn’t survive.
The restaurant has never had a presence in Edmonds, but the city’s mayor has fond memories of visiting a north Seattle Dick’s as an Edmonds High School student some 40 year ago. It was an obligatory detour on trips to Golden Gardens, the popular beachfront park in Ballard.
“We couldn’t go to Golden Gardens without making a stop at Dick’s at Holman Road,” he said.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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