DQ closes: Port Angeles eatery may reopen in new location

PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Dairy Queen has served the last of its snacks and frozen confections at its Railroad Avenue location.

The Port Angeles Dairy Queen, which occupied other buildings since the 1980s and moved to Railroad Avenue in 2001, closed its doors at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The restaurant was busy throughout the evening as customers lined up to order their last Blizzards or ice cream cones, said owner Kelly Sandhu.

“It was sad,” Sandhu said Wednesday. “People are still coming to say goodbye.”

“I just want to say thank you to the town,” Sandhu added. “We did our best. Thank you for the support.”

Tuesday, Sandhu gathered with former employees to reflect on the 18-year history of the fast food and ice cream eatery at 128 E. Railroad Ave., and looked to a possible future in a new location.

“We’re still like a family,” Sandhu said.

Sandhu said she closed the restaurant because of a dispute over the terms of her lease with her new landlord. She said she has one year to find a new home for the Port Angeles Dairy Queen before she loses the franchise.

“I’m not going away,” Sandhu said.

“This is the only Dairy Queen in town. I’ve been here 18 years.”

The only other Dairy Queen on the North Olympic Peninsula is at 720 W. Washington St. in Sequim.

Sandhu said she would consider purchasing her own property for the Port Angeles Daily Queen. She has received numerous suggestions for possible locations.

“I’m looking at it as a positive,” said Patty Gardner, an 18-year Dairy Queen employee who began working at the Port Angeles Dairy Queen shortly after moving to the state in 2013.

“We’re going to have a bigger store, newer store.

“The customers I’ve talked to that are regulars are so excited,” Gardner added.

“It’s going to be a scavenger hunt. They’re going to try to find us. They said they will find us and they will come back.”

The Port Angeles Dairy Queen employs 20 to 25 during the summer and about 10 to 15 during the winter, Sandhu said.

“I feel bad for my employees because they’ve been here for so long,” Sandhu said in a Monday interview.

“I do have a lot of kids,” she added.

“They go to school, then in the summertime they come back here because they know they have a job.”

Former employees Melinda Bishop and Tasha Kellen, both of whom have moved on to other careers, returned to Dairy Queen to show their support for Sandhu on Tuesday.

“It’s definitely bittersweet with all the fun times that we had here, but I’m really excited for the next step,” said Kellen, who worked at the Port Angeles Dairy Queen in 2008.

“I’m just excited to see the change,” added Bishop, who was one of Sandhu’s first hires in 2001 and returned to work summers beginning in 2008.

Sandhu said she decided to close the Dairy Queen on Railroad Avenue because she was unwilling to sign a “triple net lease” that would have required her to pay all real estate taxes, insurance and maintenance costs in addition to her rent.

The 2,032-square-foot building and land at 128 E. Railroad Ave., recently sold to SSI Properties, according to Clallam County Assessor’s Office records.

The appraised value of the land and building was $199,621 in 2018, according to the Assessor’s Office. The property sold to SSI Properties for $215,000, county records show.

Sandhu said she met many of her employees when they were young children.

“I used to tell them ‘Wait until you’re 15 or 16. You’re going to be on the other side [of the counter],’ ” Sandhu said.

“Sure enough, they were all on the other side working for me. Now they’re all grown up with their own kids, but we’re still like a family.”

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.