It was more than one decade ago now that the Golden Arches first glinted in the Grand Forks, B.C. sunlight.
Alas, deep in the wintry throes of 2014, it proved but a mirage.
A February 24th, 2014 Grand Forks City Council meeting saw then-Mayor Brian Taylor announce the impending launch of a McDonald’s restaurant in town.
Rumours had swirled in the past, but this was “more serious than before,” Taylor informed the Grand Forks Gazette at the time, noting how McDonald’s paid for a development permit application.
But when the Gazette dug deeper, a spokesperson from McDonald’s confirmed to the contrary: “we do not have plans at this time to build in Grand Forks,” an official email response read.
Fast-forward 10 years, and Ronald McDonald is finally suiting up to serve Boundary Country.
Last year a permit was approved to build the fast food restaurant at the corner of Highway 3 and 27th Street, near Kal-Tire and the recently rebranded No Frills grocery store—the same site that was hinted at back in 2014.
Slated to open by the end of April, the Grand Forks McDonald’s location is approximately 5,000 square feet in size and cost roughly $1.6 million to build.
The nearest other McDonald’s restaurants are in Osoyoos and Castlegar.
The popular fast food restaurant will compete for drive-through business in the growing Boundary hotspot with long-standing rivals A&W and Dairy Queen, as well as newcomer Tim Hortons (the coffee chain launched in GF in 2022).
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