Wayback Burgers will be opening a store within a rebuilt structure that formerly Xpect Discounts in Derby, company officials confirmed Wednesday.
The restaurant will open on Pershing Drive, where there are two different retail redevelopment projects underway.
Walgreen Eastern Co. owns Red Raider Plaza, where Xpect Discounts sat on one end and a strip of retail shops sat on the other, toward Division Street.
Wayback will be going into the rebuilt space that once housed Xpect. A gym is going in there as well, along with a few other businesses.
A spokesperson for Wayback Burgers in Cheshire said the Derby location should be open by late December or early January, depending on the permitting process.
Alderman David Lenart said a new restaurant is good for the local economy.
“As a burger connoisseur with a waistline to prove it, I am a fan of Wayback Burgers,” Lenart said.
Wayback Burgers used to be called Jake’s Wayback Burgers, but they dropped Jake when they “re-branded” earlier this year.
The chain started in 1991, in Newark, Del., home to the University of Delaware. Click here for more on its history.
The Derby store is a franchise.
Wayback Burgers have 15 locations in Connecticut.
The closest to Derby is in Orange, at 185 Boston Post Road. It’s only eight miles away on paper — but it’s a different story with traffic.
Walgreens, by the way, was supposed to be tearing down the existing retail strip on the Division Street side of the development in order to build a new, standalone Walgreens.
But a Walgreens spokesman told the Valley Indy last month company officials changed their minds and would neither be opening a pharmacy nor razing the existing retail strip.
It’s caused a bit of a wrinkle, because the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission approved a redevelopment plan which included removing the stores. Click here for a story with a full explanation.
Mayor Anita Dugatto said in an e-mail Tuesday that Walgreens or people representing the company are scheduled to appear at a Derby Planning and Zoning Commission meeting later this month.
The old Valley Bowl, by the way, was next to Red Raider Plaza on Pershing Drive. That’s being redeveloped into a shopping center that will include an Aldi supermarket and Panera Bread.
Good for Derby retail business as the same people who come to enjoy a Wayback Burger will also shop at other Derby stores.
If the strip facing Division Street is going to stay, I’d love to see another restaurant open on the corner where there was most recently a diner. What about a Polish restaurant? We have local places to buy Polish food, but nowhere to go in and eat. I’d go there and I bet a lot of others in the Valley would too.
What happened to the Main Street Polish bar-lounge restaurant that was supposed to open at the Ansonia Plaza earlier this year? The announced future opening signs on the store windows disappeared after being in place for several months.
Hi Stan. I’m not sure of that one.
I vaguely remember a few years back Jodie, a reporter for us at the time, inquired about a club that was supposed to be opening on Main Street, but that club never opened.
A Polish deli just opened on Main Street in Ansonia across from Eddy’s, though.
@Eugene Driscoll: The Polish Deli EUROPOL has been there for several years, and recently closed fore renovation, reopening on September, to add kitchen facilities and sit-down room for
patron’s to enjoy their prepared food on their premises.
The Polish Deli, EUROPOL, has been at the Ansonia Commons Plaza, 54 Main Street,for years, capably operated by the Kuna family. They closed temporarily earlier last month, to renovate and add kitchen facilities, and reopened on September 23, and now provide a sit-down area for patrons to eat on the premises. They are our family favorite deli.
@Ryan Healey: Hugh Bailey of Connecticut Post bears witness to the fact in his feature story on that Derby wants the store, but Fairfield is opposed to the store being opened in their community. As I told the Post, “It’s a tale of two cities.”