As a teenager, my father worked for the City of Valdosta in building permits. People would ask me, hoping I had overheard him, about the businesses they hoped would soon come there. One restaurant in particular stood out as the crowd favorite.

Which isn’t surprising because going to the one in Tallahassee, I invariably saw people I knew from Valdosta. So, people drove 1.5 hours to eat there. Well, probably also to shop at the retail places and the restaurant was a bonus. This place never had less than a half hour wait and that was at like 3pm on a Saturday.

Today, I see something similar inside the local Facebook groups. People ask what is being built in a specific lot. They get both knowledgeable replies but wishful ones too. But, there is a pattern to the wishful ones: word hits the news about an out of region restaurant chain coming to somewhere like 1-2 hours away. Example: Whataburger opened in Kennesaw yesterday. Comments about wanting one to open here hit every post about what is being built for months.

Another pattern is having something not convenient. People like QuikTrip’s brand. But they are not all over town, so people guess about where a new one will pop up more convenient to them.