Another fast-food restaurant is under construction in Regina, but the recipe for this one is a little different. For only the second time in Canada, McDonalds is opening a drive-through only location. Regina’s 15th McDonalds will be missing the iconic play place that modern establishments have dropped, as well as any seating area all together. The fast-food landscape is a different place than the one McDonalds began selling burgers in. The goal of a fast-food restaurant like McDonalds was to have people not wait in their cars for window service, now the business model has gone full circle. At the Golden Arches’ newest location at the corner of Broad Street and 4th Ave, in the Wholesale Club parking lot, the only way you’ll receive food is in your car. It’s just the way things are trending now, according to Kurt Gieni. “I think nowadays, the market is drive through. People not wanting to sit down, people on the go wanting to just take their food and go instead of sitting down eating. I think that’s what McDonalds is all about now is just take your food and go, basically,” he said. The convenience of the drive-through model makes sense for the large commuter base in the downtown adjacent area. It’s a prime location to try out this new version of McDonalds. Dogara Samaila says he’d like a drive-through only location. “It’s a busy area, a lot of cars pass and not pedestrians. So, it will be easier for customers to just drive through and get what they need. Yeah, it’s a good idea,” he said. However, not everyone is positively impacted by the addition of a McDonalds in the Wholesale Club parking lot. Pam Carpenter is the owner of “The Bannock House” food truck. They have set up shop six months of the year since 2019. Now, construction takes place in that very spot. “That has become a place where my customers have known that is where the Bannock House is. We’ve been operating there for the past six years. It was good at the beginning of the summer but with the ongoing construction, as you can see, we’ve made our way down here to 4th and Albert so about 10 more blocks west,” Carpenter explained. Some of the smaller food carts remain in the lot, on the opposite side of the construction, but their future isn’t certain either. Once the new look McDonalds is completed, Regina will be home to a piece of fast-food history, but local businesses might face the impacts of a heavy traffic area receiving a worldwide franchise.
