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Raccoon Road businesses reflect on impact of Dyngles' Queen of Hearts draw
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
As Barry Dyngles continues to deliberate where to host the next Queen of Hearts drawing, Raccoon Road business neighbors spoke favorably of the recent Wednesday crowds on the county road.
“I think it’s good for the community and brings different people in,” said Michael Christy, manager at Wedgewood Fernando’s Pizza at 1622 S. Raccoon Road.
He said the traffic in the shop has been steady and about the same as normal but they have had customers from Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey and New York. “They come in and see all these pizza ovens and say they’ve never seen a pizza shop like this,” he said.
Barry Dyngles, 1601 S. Raccoon Road, has not made a determination on where to hold its next Queen of Hearts drawing, which is expected to hit $1 million. Pub general manager Doug Duganne said store officials will continue to scout locations until they make a decision.
The big question is finding a suitable locale to handle crowds estimated at between 6,000 and 8,000. Some believe 15,000 could show up for a million-dollar drawing.
For Gia’s Pizzeria managers Bree Chambers and Mike Molnar, the loss of carryout and delivery business on Wednesdays when Queen of Hearts has been drawn has been balanced out by an increase in the amount of walk-in customers.
The pizza shop, 1651 S. Raccoon Road, has a parking lot that blends into a neighboring business as well as Barry Dyngles.
“It’s kind of hard to get anywhere unless you’re on foot” during the Wednesday night drawings, Chambers said.
Molnar said Gia’s has offered specials on those Wednesday night drawings for the increased walk-in customers, such as a special on pepperoni rolls.
“I can only imagine the crowd we’ll get if it’s still here in two weeks,” Chambers said.
Bob McAllister, owner of Bojo’s Creamery at 1412 S. Raccoon Road, said business has picked up more for his ice cream shop than just on Wednesday night drawings. He said, from 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. “it’s more of a constant flow – it’s beautiful. I hope they don’t take it out of here.”
Bojo’s is within miles of a Handel’s Ice Cream location on Mahoning Avenue, the dominant ice cream stop in the area.
“It’s helped immensely. We’ve done TV [advertisements] before, but word of mouth is the best advertising,” McAllister said.
He said people who first tried his ice cream on Wednesday nights – parking in his lot, getting ice cream and walking to Barry Dyngles – are now starting to come back on Saturdays and Sundays.
“Next thing you know, they’re frequent flyers,” he said of those customers.
McAllister said his parking lot had people from Akron, Cleveland and Pittsburgh for the last Queen of Hearts drawing.
“You’re always going to have someone gripe, but” the Queen of Hearts game “has been good for business,” he said.