Logan to be home for new popular businesses

Popular businesses including Dutch Bros Coffee, In-N-Out Burger, WinCo Foods, Cupbop and Cafe Zupas all plan to open locations in Logan in coming months.

Dutch Bros Coffee is renovating a property at 910 Main St. formerly owned by a Papa Johns. No opening date is announced. The coffee chain, which was starting in Oregon in 1992, opened its first store in Utah in May of 2020. Since then, over a dozen stores have opened across the state.

WinCo Foods, a warehouse-style supermarket, is taking the location previously occupied by Shopko at 1341 Main St. and plans to open its doors in December. Since WinCo announced an expansion to Utah in 2009, five locations have been built, making this location the sixth store in Utah.

In-N-Out Burger, a fast-food chain, is building a store at 404 Main St. on the lot formerly occupied by Nyla’s Shell gas station. Construction on the store has begun, but no opening day is announced. The Logan location will be the 12th in the state. In-N-Out was labeled the best burger in fast food by Business Insider in 2019.

A Korean barbeque, Cupbop, announced a Logan location on Facebook in July. A “coming soon” banner for the chain is now hanging on the former Sweetly Divine location at 695 W 1725 N. The Utah-based company started out as a food truck in 2013 and has grown rapidly since. Today, the chain has more than 20 restaurants and six food trucks across Utah, Nevada and Idaho.

Cafe Zupas was announced in June, and is planned to be built at 700 Main St., the former site of an A&W Restaurants. The cafe, which serves soup, salad and sandwiches, was started in Utah in 2004 and now has locations in Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio.

A rumor is circulating about Target considering opening a store in Logan. The Idaho State Journal reported in February that the retailer was looking at a location in the city.

“We’re talking to them, but it’s slow moving. I know they want to be in Logan,” Scott Brady from Mountain West Commercial Real Estate told ISJ. “They’re looking at several options, but they haven’t committed to us.”

Mountain West Commercial Real Estate also brokered the deal to bring In-N-Out to Logan.

The retailer had discussions regarding a location at both the Cache Valley Mall and the old site of Macey’s on 400 N. on the same block as In-N-Out’s construction site.

Daines said she is also excited for the positive benefits of these businesses.

“These companies obviously see an excellent market here in Logan and Cache Valley,” Daines said. “The benefit to our community is sales tax. A large portion of the city’s budget comes from sales tax, so that is a positive financial benefit to the city although there are also additional costs for infrastructure and services such as police, fire, et cetera.”

Daines also said students at Utah State University should be excited for the growing changes and the new dining and shopping options.

“I would kill for their animal-style fries,” said Emily Hill, a USU student . “I have no concerns about these new businesses succeeding here.”

A concern expressed about the new locations is the potential impact on small businesses. Logan is home to a number of small businesses, many of which will be competing with the larger chains.

Caffe Ibis, a staple in Logan and USU, is one of these small businesses.

USU alumni Randy Wirth and Sally Sears stared the coffee business in 1976 as Straw Ibis, which became Caffe Ibis in the 1990s.

Lisa Wilson became the president and CFO of Caffe Ibis in 2019. She said she is confident Ibis will be able to compete with Dutch Bros once it opens.

According to Wilson, she said that their specialty coffee is what sets them apart from other coffee businesses and reflects their overall mission.

She also stated that small businesses just have to figure out how to compete with new companies that have different levels of resources.

Wilson also expressed gratitude for USU and the Logan community for the support Caffe Ibis has received.

“Our partnership with Utah State University, the Aggie community downtown and at venues on campus has been strong for decades now,” Wilson said. “We look forward to continuing to bring the highest quality coffee you deserve and expect from Caffe Ibis.”

Hill is not concerned with the impact that the changes will have on small businesses or student’s interaction with them but rather the change in competition among existing chain restaurants.

For example, Hill believes restaurants such as McDonald’s and Taco Bell will face the biggest impact once In-N-Out opens.

“With the growth we are experiencing, I think there is room for all,” Daines said. “People always enjoy and seek out the ‘local’ businesses that you can’t find anywhere else.”

Daines also expressed support for Logan’s small business and the character she said they bring to the city.

-Jared.Adams@usu.edu