A Farewell to Dairy Queens - Texas Monthly

A Farewell to Dairy Queens - Texas Monthly

"The old saying that every Texas town has a Dairy Queen is no longer true for many communities, especially the agricultural hamlets of the Panhandle, which have been disproportionately affected by a spate of closures. On October 30, Vasari LLC, which operated about 70 Dairy Queens across Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, filed for bankruptcy and announced it was closing 29 stores, 10 of them in the Panhandle.

"In Haskell, about 150 miles southeast of Lockney, city manager Janet Moeller was so concerned when she heard about the closure in her town that she called her counterpart in Graham to see if the owners of its Dairy Queen would buy the Haskell site and reopen it. So far, nothing has come of the request. 'It's devastating for Haskell,' she said....

"Dairy Queen reached Texas in 1946, when Missouri businessman O. W. Klose and his son, Rolly, bought the franchise rights and opened a store on Guadalupe Street in Austin, near the University of Texas campus. Rather than selling just ice cream and desserts, though, Klose added burgers and other savory items, which set Texas Dairy Queens apart from others across the country."

Haskell is near where my father-in-law grew up. Stamford, where he went to high school, lost its Dairy Queen around 15 years ago (it was an antique store, then a nail salon, and now a Mexican restaurant), but they have a locally-owned drive-in, the Dixie Dog (whose steak fingers are renowned), and a Sonic. I have to wonder how much of an effect Sonic has had on the decline of DQ in Texas. Despite the similar menus, Sonic doesn't provide the indoor space to visit with your neighbors that Dairy Queen provided.