Is a Rax Resurrection Possible in Wheeling, W.Va.?
To whom it may concern: Is it still possible to inquire about opening a new Rax? Please let me know.
Thank you - Steve
I sent that email to [email protected] a little more than a year ago and – to no avail – I’ve checked my inbox and scam box every day ever since because, of course, I’ve been imagining all the possibilities. Now, the locations in Lancaster and Circleville, Ohio, answered their phones today, but neither of the ladies knew if franchises were still available.
But, what if?
There would have to be, of course, the gloriousness of the beloved BBC, the giganticness of the Deluxe Rax, and all the other sandwiches along with those French fries and Onion Petals and – OHHH!! – the baked potatoes, too.
We’d have to construct the same style of building and the exact interior with the four-top tables along the walls, the two-tops in the middle, the salad bar and the greenhouse roof near the back, and parking lots on both sides and the restrooms to the right of the front counter.
We would have to find a new location since Tim Horton’s has been in its footprint for more than 15 years, taking advantage of one of the busiest intersections in the city that once made the fast-foodish eatery the No. 1 location in the once super-successful company.
And the demand would be there, right? That’s why so people in the Wheeling have visited other Rax locations over the decades since the Wheeling Rax was closed in the mid-1990s, and one particular trip many enjoyed has been referred to as the “Time Machine” because both a Big Boy Restaurant and a Rax were located in Lancaster, Ohio until the Frisch’s closed in November 2024.
If resurrected, though, would it be on those Friday and Saturday nights THE hangout for high school kids once again? Would they cruise back and forth along National Road between Rax and Patsy’s? Or up to the arcade at Wilson Lodge and return down the back way through Wheeling Park?
What about date night? Or after the big games? Would today’s teenagers always go back to Rax? Like we did? Forty flippin’ years ago?
Would they rather Rax? Would you? Still?
The Rax in Circleville, Ohio, in 2018.
