I guess Walgreens decided they needed to compete with the Dollar Store’s $1 cheeseburger. Or the McDouble? Walgreen’s is the world’s largest drug store chain, with over 8,000 locations in all 50 states, PR and Guam. It started in Chicago in 1901. I’m sure the founders wouldn’t recognize today’s version, which, to me, in most states, are really liquor stores with a prescription counter.
In the 1980s, they started a chain of diner/pancake houses, along the lines of Ihop and Dennys. At the peak, there were over one hundred of them, but somebody got a bug up their butt and sold the chain to Marriott Corporation in 1990.
I’m thinking the older stores had lunch counters, tho, maybe 40 years ago or so. Many drug stores were combo soda fountains, instead of liquor stores. Hmmm, maybe they should put in bars?
In 2010, Walgreen’s started an initiative to stock a wider selection of healthier fresh foods and produce, particularly since some quantity of their stores were located in “food deserts” (areas without a major grocery in a convenient radius).
I haven’t seen one of those stores, they are mostly in inner cities, I understand, and the Walgreens I frequent is in an area that is the antithesis of “inner city.”
“Nice” is their store brand for snack foods, candy, cookies, chips, ice cream and the like, and they have started to add frozen heat and eat convenience foods under this line – pizzas, eggrolls, and the $1 cheeseburger. (I call this kind of product “gas station food’…it’s not derogatory).
It’s 4.6 ounces, and has a pile of carbs, and is ready to go after 60 seconds in the microwave. It compares favorably to other similar products I have sampled. The patty has an OK texture, ‘grill flavoring’, and the sesame bun is quite substantial (tho you can see the effects of my thumbs in the foto).
A toss up with other gas station sandwiches, but better than the McDouble. You’ll find plenty of reviews of frozen burgers on this website by entering “frozen burgers” or “gas station” in the search box to the upper left.
