No Dairy Queen for Winnetka!

Winnetka residents waited all summer long for Dairy Queen to open up on the corner of Elm and Lincoln streets.  The windows to the old Depot restaurant were papered over and a hopeful sign there said Dairy Queen was doing the renovations.

Month after month went by and the brown paper in the windows started to look bedraggled and the permit vanished.  Nary a workmen showed up.  I started to worry when I called Dairy Queen last spring inquiring about the opening date and was told there were no plans to open one in Winnetka.

Now it's confirmed.  The head of business development for the Village of Winnetka told me this week that the company has canceled its plan.  Why?  The original store was to serve only ice cream and treats - then someone at the corporate office decided that they should also serve hamburgers and hot dogs. 

Well, unfortunatley for Dairy Queen, D's Haute Dogs, just a few storefronts to the north at 551 Lincoln, already had that business.  The Village felt that since D's was in first, their business should be protected and Dairy Queen pulled out.

If you really need a fix of Dairy Queen you'll still have to drive over to Lake St. just west of the Edens.  Or, you could go to D's Haute Dogs which is now serving smoothies.