taco bell looking to open on busy corner in downtown halifax: 'that's an absolutely prime location'
3 minute read
pedestrians walk past the site of the former eastlink store at the corner of spring garden road and south park street on monday.
ryan taplin
/
the chronicle herald
the wheels are in motion to open a taco bell in a prime downtown halifax location.
plans are moving forward to set up a shop on the corner of spring garden road and south park street in the building that used to house an eastlink store. it will be the first free-standing taco bell in the area, meaning it will not be paired with a kfc like the locations in dartmouth and the halifax shopping centre.
a media relations representative for the halifax regional municipality confirmed a developer has applied for a building permit to turn the property at 5690 spring garden rd. into a taco bell. the identity of the developer can’t be released.
“that’s an absolutely prime location,” said lower sackville’s ken leblonc, who was having lunch with his partner, jane symes, at the halifax shopping centre taco bell/kfc on tuesday. “that part of halifax is perfect for it.
“we’ll be there on opening night if they have it. i love grand openings for restaurants.”
ken leblonc and jane symes place their order at the taco bell/kfc in the halifax shopping centre on tuesday.
willy palov
/
chronicle herald
other than the two taco bells already in hrm, the only other locations in the province are in stewiacke and truro. the sydney river restaurant closed in march.
“they used to have one on sackville drive out where we live, and then all of a sudden they closed,” said symes. “now when we get the chance, we come in here to get some.
“we do taco tuesday at home and we make our own and he loves them. but if they’re building a new one downtown, that sounds good to me.”
the spring garden road building used to be a dairy queen from the mid-1980s until its closing in november 2010. eastlink moved into the space a short time later.
pedestrians walk past the site of the former eastlink store at the corner of spring garden road and south park street on monday.
ryan taplin
/
chronicle herald
“taco bell’s my place, so that’s great that there’s a new one coming,” noah surette said while waiting for his order at the halifax shopping centre. “i live in coldbrook so i come here whenever i’m in the city. you can’t beat a taco.”
“it’s even busy here, so i’m sure downtown it’ll just take off,” he added.
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taco bell serves primarily mexican-style food and has more than 170 locations across canada. the chain opened its first store in 1979 in ontario.
there are more than 8,200 taco bells in the united states and roughly 9,000 worldwide.
a taco bell crunch wrap.
sunmedia
“i drove in from truro today to come to the apple store, and i have to tell you, i’m going to be 85 on friday so coming this far was a little intimidating,” said pat mclellan after she ordered a slow-roasted cantina chicken soft taco at the halifax shopping store counter.
“so the guy at the apple store said, ‘go downstairs and have something to eat while you’re here.’ he didn’t suggest coming here, but when i walked through i remembered i had it in california when i was visiting my daughter in long beach. i liked it then so i got some more today.”
the chain has recently been linked to contaminated lettuce at five american outlets. united states health authorities discovered the parasite cyclospora in iceberg lettuce supplied to those locations by taylor farms and tied it to an outbreak of explosive diarrhea in thousands of people.
taco bell canada issued a statement on facebook on saturday declaring its lettuce safe.
“we want you to hear it from us,” the statement read. “we take your health and safety seriously. we’ve seen your comments and want to assure you that none of the affected lettuce made its way into our canadian restaurants. so go ahead and satisfy that craving. see you soon.”
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