Dick's to build new drive-in at TOP Foods in Edmonds

Aerial view of TOP Foods Edmonds on Hwy 99

After a 7 week search, Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants announced today that it has reached agreement with the owners of the TOP Food and Drug stores to purchase land in Edmonds to build the first new Dick’s Drive-In restaurant in 36 years. The property is located at 21900 Highway 99, in the northeast corner of the TOP Foods parking lot. Plans are to open the new drive-in by late 2011.

Vice-President Jim Spady liked the location, with easy access to Hwy 99 and I-5 and proximity to Edmonds Community College and Edmonds Stadium. The stadium is home field for the five high schools in the Edmonds School District. “Nothing like hungry teenagers after a football game,” Spady says.

Spady added the company’s experience with the TOP Foods owners has been a plus. “As a family-owned business, we like working with the Haggen family who created what is now the largest, independent grocery store chain in Washington,” Spady says.

“The City of Edmonds is excited to welcome Dick’s Drive-Ins to Edmonds,” says Edmonds Mayor and retired Shoreline Fire Lieutenant Mike Cooper, “The Spady family’s long-standing commitment to good jobs, education, and giving back to the community is just the kind of business we work to attract in our city.”

The new site selection process included a customer online poll that resulted in over 115,000 people voting whether to locate the new Dick’s Drive-In north, south or east of Seattle. After almost 3 weeks of voting, the north region scored highest with 53,810 votes, or 46 percent of the votes cast.

The original Dick's Drive-In opened in 1954 on Northeast 45th Street in Wallingford. The most recent restaurant built was the Queen Anne Dick's in 1974. The new Dick's in Edmonds will maintain the original restaurant's iconic 1950’s look and architecture.