Seems like there's been talk of a coming chain store invasion in OtR with a Subway opening on sycamore as well as some other rumors circulating.  What are your favorite chain store memories of OtR of yesterday? I remember hitting up the goldstar by Findlay market as a kid, and I've got to give some love to the former KFC on liberty.  There are certainly others I know of but never experienced.

I remember the Gold Star as well, and I miss the more recent Popeye's Chicken (although technically in the West End on Linn).

 

Sadly, I don't think the chains we'll see in OTR will be the Taco Bell's and Popeye's - they'll be Starbucks and possibly some bars/restaurants. The crowd in OTR has become fairly generic these days; while you still have the hipsters around, you routinely see everything from families and young couples you only used to see in Hyde Park, to frat boys and coeds you would only find in Mt. Adams, and everything in between. If a Starbucks doesn’t represent the crowd that frequents OTR, I don’t know what does.

 

I think it’s only a matter of time before chains start popping up in OTR. I’ll put my money on Starbucks being the first, as I think the one near Fountain Square on 4th street is the closest one to OTR currently.

 

I'd agree Starbucks seems most likely due to among many things size.  Not many chains have a footprint that fits into the size of an OtR storefront.

I think it’s only a matter of time before chains start popping up in OTR. I’ll put my money on Starbucks being the first, as I think the one near Fountain Square on 4th street is the closest one to OTR currently.

 

There is one at the Horseshoe. But I agree, a Starbucks will be the first chain. Perhaps in Mercer Commons?

Wasn't there a White Castle in there somewhere?

I went to that Gold Star a lot. Scared my co-workers to death.

There was a White Castle on main, just north of liberty and another one elsewhere. I believe I saw pics on a thread here a while back. 

I'm placing bets on a Jamba Juice entering the Cincinnati market, though probably downtown before OTR.

 

One thing I noticed last time I was down about a month ago was an iPad billboard downtown off of I-71 - I've never seen Apple advertise in Cincinnati before, only in large cities with high concentrations of affluent young populations and nationally hip urban neighborhoods.

One thing I noticed last time I was down about a month ago was an iPad billboard downtown off of I-71

 

That particular billboard, atop the KZF Design building, has seen multiple Apple ads over the past spring/summer.

The other White Castle was at the sec Vine & Liberty. I remember it well.

 

There was the Red Barn at Vine & Mercer.

 

There were 2 Chuckwagon restaurants, one at 13th and Main, and the other at 13th and Vine.

 

There was an Arthur Treacher's fish and chips near the southwest side of Liberty and either Race or Elm, I don't remember which one.

IIRC, Burger King tried to open up on Liberty, Charlie Luken was mayor & fought them. They never opened.

It really is shocking how if you go back to the '70s and '80s how many fast food joints were in the cores of mid-size Midwest cities such as the 3Cs and how few there are now. They need that drive-through and breakfast money now that the food service industry works on smaller margins and it's much tougher to make money without a liquor license.

I had many a greasy hoagy from Angilos' pizza at Vine and Liberty.

 

Also, altho not a chain, I loved me some chili at Little Mexico Chili Parlor at 14th and Vine.

When did that Red Barn close? I don't think I ever saw it in operation but I loved it because it looked so silly sitting there.