Iconic Dairy Queen Location in NC Sells for $1.1 Million
The Dairy Queen location was part of the community for decades.
After nearly 80 years, an iconic Dairy Queen location in North Carolina has been sold for $1.1 million.
According to The Charlotte Observer, the store, which was on Wilkinson Boulevard and owned by longtime couple Lacy and Blenda Walters, was sold. According to Mecklenburg County property records, it was sold to Khan & Singh Property Management LLC for $1.1 million in April. However, the Walters ensured that the 78-year-old structure located at 2732 Wilkinson Blvd. would remain the oldest Dairy Queen in North Carolina.
“I hear it every day,” Lacy said to the outlet. “Another company wanted the property and was offering us more money. But we felt like the community had been very good to us over the years and we owed it to them.”
With a few tweaks, Tariq Khan, owner of Khan & Singh Property Management in Charlotte, intends to fulfill the Walters’ pledge to continue using the property as a Dairy Queen.
Before the Walters owned the franchise, it was owned by Preston Aaron and his wife Irene, who first opened the location in 1947. The Aaron family is considered the “pioneers” of bringing the popular ice cream franchise to the neighborhood.
“This community has been very good to this Dairy Queen over the years,” Lacy said. “We certainly haven’t got rich, but I can tell you one thing — it’s been very good to us and we’ve enjoyed being here.”
Dairy Queen Closing Locations Across Texas
While North Carolina celebrates an iconic location being sold yet remaining open, Texas is experiencing a mass closure of its Dairy Queen locations.
The well-known fast-food restaurant closed 12 sites in April, including six in Texas. Hemphill, Jasper, Kountze, Huntington, Longview Eastman, and Lufkin have all seen the closure of their restaurants. Although each shutdown is a singular occurrence, the same franchise owner owns all the locations.
“The closures are an isolated event, and we refrain from publicly sharing contract terms,” a representative for Dairy Queen said in a statement at the time.
KETK obtained court documents between the American Dairy Queen Corporation and Project Lone Star, which owned 38 franchise locations in Texas, after 25 restaurants were closed in February. The corporation threatened to revoke its franchise rights if the stores did not renovate to franchise standards.
