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Missing Out on the Great Chicken Sandwich Wars

chick fil a schuylkill mall

Breathe easy, Schuylkill County.

The decades-long economic “downturn” helped us avoid a recent war.

That’s the great Chicken Sandwich War waged last week between Popeye’s and Chick-Fil-A.

Popeye’s debuted a new chicken sandwich and decided it’d be a good idea to launch a campaign claiming theirs is better than the popular chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A.

Well, the promo took off and soon, Popeye’s restaurants got swamped with curious customers.

And that led to shortages, which pissed off a lot of customers.

The Great Chicken Sandwich Wars

Of course, we avoided getting involved in this fast food social media skirmish by not having either a Popeye’s or a Chick-Fil-A.

How sad and pathetic, really. We’re going to sit out this particular war unless you’re willing to drive great distances just for some fast food.

If you’re living in Pottsville, it’s a haul to get to either a Chick-Fil-A or a Popeye’s.

Chick-Fil-A Near Pottsville

Check out this Google Map of the Chick-Fil-A restaurants closest to Pottsville.

You can almost see the outline of Schuylkill County based on where there isn’t a Chick-Fil-A.

The closest Chick-Fil-A restaurants are in Kutztown, Reading, Wyomissing, and Bloomsburg.

Popeye’s Near Pottsville

Finding a nearby Popeye’s is nearly as long of a drive.

You can find one up in Hazleton but other than that, you’ll have to go to Reading, Lebanon or Whitehall to participate in the Great Chicken Sandwich War.

Schuylkill County – A Place Where Chick-Fil-A Was Forced to Close

Of course, there are plenty of signs out there to tell you we’re missing out on some of the basics here in Schuylkill County. No, quality of life doesn’t improve based on the number of chicken franchise restaurants open. But the lack of certain popular ones show you that we could probably do a little better.

You’d at least expect to find a Chick-Fil-A along the interstate, right?

The economy’s so bad here that a Chick-Fil-A actually had to close.

Could you imagine hearing about a Chick-Fil-A that couldn’t scare up enough business to stay open?

They have 3-lane drive-thrus at some Chick-Fil-A stores closer to Philadelphia. And we couldn’t keep a cashier and fry cook busy enough to keep one running.

Sad.

Chick-Fil-A at the Schuylkill Mall

Of course, the Chick-Fil-A closing at the Schuylkill Mall wasn’t just the store’s fault. It was in a dying location.

How many times since it was demolished have you considered going to the Schuylkill Mall? Sometimes it’s hard to remember it’s not there anymore.

And before it was a has-been mall, the Schuylkill Mall housed a Chick-Fil-A restaurant inside. We’re pretty sure it looked exactly the same inside the Chick-Fil-A from the day it opened until the day it closed.

We consulted our Schuylkill Mall historian at CoalSpeaker.com for a little help on this. He was able to scare up this print media ad for the Chick-Fil-A at the Schuylkill Mall.

chick fil a schuylkill mall

(Image: Coalspeaker.com archives)

Happy to Sit This One Out?

Maybe we should be happy there’s no war here on our soil. It’s getting ugly out there.

Check out some of these clips from Popeye’s locations across the US. When there aren’t enough chicken sandwiches to go around, things get a little testy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUB-ghrtmmo

Seriously, spicy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APdcL3sY8xw

Don’t start a war you’re not willing to finish, right?

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Bryan

    September 2, 2019 at 3:56 pm

    It is my understanding that a brawl of some sort happened at the Hazleton Popeyes this past week.. A source tells me that he overheard the fight going on while he was in the drive through.. but what other chicken sandwich would cause such consternation in Hazleton!? No CHICK FIL A .. but maybe Wendys? Wendys the underdog in this war!

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