John Chow dot Com Online Investment Review - Make Money Online Investing in Businesses
 

Wally’s Burger – End of an Era

written by John Chow on March 2, 2008

At yesterday’s Dot Com Pho, Michael Kwan showed me a Vancouver Sun article that said Wally’s Burger was closing its doors for good. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been going to Wally’s for as long as I can remember. Wally’s dates back nearly 50 years and used to be the spot to hang out at during the 60′s and 70′s, when Kingsway was the hot cruising road for street rods and customs. Wally’s has the last remaining neon sign on Kingsway. The place is practically a Vancouver institution so I’m really sad to see it go.

With the thought of no more Wally’s, I decided I better head down there to get my burger fix before they close for good. Unfortunately, I was not the only one who had that idea. The place was packed! It was so busy, I had to line up 15 minutes just to place my order. I was lucky I even got my order in because right after my order, they closed the order window because they ran out of burgers and told everyone that was still in line to come back at 4PM!

While waiting for Wally’s to make my burger, CBC News showed up to do some filming for their evening news broadcast. They interviewed a bunch of people including me. I even flip the top off my burger to show them what goes into a Wally’s burger. I think next week’s Dot Com Pho is going to be Dot Com Wally’s.

wally1.jpg

Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...

Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.

{ 80 comments }

yissels.com March 3, 2008 at 12:58 am

Well… you did get a few seconds of fame :razz:

Chris Jacobson March 3, 2008 at 11:32 am

Too bad it wasn’t CTV News who did this story… CBC is brutal!

DeboHobo March 5, 2008 at 10:55 am

John Chow you seem to be every where! the burger looked really great.

Hardeep March 3, 2008 at 1:21 am

I’m sure CBC didnt know they had a blogging superstar on when they filmed you.. but then again CBC is about losing money.. they don’t read stuff about making money online.

Melvin March 3, 2008 at 1:29 am

WOw, why are they closing? No Idea

Shaun Carter March 3, 2008 at 6:52 am

In the video the owner said it was because his landlord didn’t want to renew his lease. It’s too bad because the guy just bought it five years ago.

Make Money Online March 3, 2008 at 1:48 am

I wonder if they’ll think about changing their mind with all the exposure?

Talking of which, I was suprised to to see that you weren’t wearing anything branded with johnchow.com?

Quit Smoking March 3, 2008 at 1:57 am

That’s a huge surprise. Long live Walley’s :lol:

How to Blog March 3, 2008 at 1:58 am

I’ve never even heard of Walleys. Its always disappointing when a favourite decides to close.

Harishankar March 3, 2008 at 2:25 am

May be they got big competitors…?

hyms March 3, 2008 at 2:39 am

JohnChow’s ideas is very great that’s why many people like to subscibe to the blog. So do I.

Mike March 3, 2008 at 3:27 am

That sucks. Happened a few years ago, in my town, to this awesome dive… now its a funeral home hmmm…

Shanker Bakshi March 3, 2008 at 6:11 am

The world is Keep Changing rearranging minds and thoughts, The fly of doom the baby boom.

Sam March 3, 2008 at 3:57 am

Why isn’t there a push to make it historical to keep it there?

eMarketing Chat March 3, 2008 at 4:33 am

I guess to everything comes an end, how sad it is! The same goes for our online projects. How profitable it can be, there will be a day…

FREE PPC Affiliate Tracking 2.0 March 3, 2008 at 4:35 am

More exposure for John LOL

Krsto March 3, 2008 at 5:39 am

Great speach!

Simon Lau March 3, 2008 at 4:39 am

Did the folks at CBC know who you were John? Sad to see another piece of history disappear.

Syed Balkhi March 3, 2008 at 5:34 am

yeah nothing you can do about that as these new corporations are monopolizing such as Burger King and McDonalds it is really hard to keep the old stores up.

RacerX March 3, 2008 at 9:26 am

This isn’t a McDonald or BK thing, it is a Real Estate issue. The Real Estate is just too valuable for what it is being used for.

Same thing happened to CBGBs in NYC
As well as Indian Hills Theater in Omaha (where i grew up!)

It is really hard to get anything on the National Register to protect in the States, don’t know about Canada.

Seopher March 4, 2008 at 1:19 am

Right on the money; it’s prime real estate and to be in a spot like that you need to be making good money. It’s hard for eateries to make loads with $4 burgers.

MoneyNing March 3, 2008 at 11:13 am

Probably not :evil:

Kiley March 3, 2008 at 5:27 am

Buy it, John! :twisted:

Trevor March 3, 2008 at 5:33 am

I thought they were already closed :roll:

John Chow, you are so lucky. More exposure

Shanker Bakshi March 3, 2008 at 6:14 am

No doubt He is a lucky Chap

Krsto March 3, 2008 at 5:35 am

This happens in my country all the time. Traditional values are no longer respected…

Syed Balkhi March 3, 2008 at 5:35 am

John did the reporter know who you were ?? Maybe he would’ve felt lucky to be interviewing you ;)

Shanker Bakshi March 3, 2008 at 6:17 am

I think he was not, if he knows whom he is interviewing he might change his subject from “Why Wally’s is closing to How John is making money”

SEO Optimization March 3, 2008 at 6:31 am

LoL yeah indeed it looks like the reporter had no clue who was interviewing…

SEO y Marketing March 3, 2008 at 6:27 am

Only 13 comments?? Well this is my first comment here but I read JohnChow for many months…I just wanna say Hi! I’m from Spain and havent ever been in Wally’s …

Mayank Rocks March 3, 2008 at 6:34 pm

And now it is 57 lol

Joy Smith March 3, 2008 at 7:20 am

That’s a shame that the city does not want Wally’s there, it seems. Here we lost our drugstore/soda shop thanks our town’s greed. The place had been open for about as long as Wally’s had. Such a shame that it all comes down to greed.

Hustle Strategy March 3, 2008 at 8:16 am

It really stinks seeing things like this disappear.

Joe Tan March 3, 2008 at 8:20 am

First time seeing John in YouTube on CBC News talking about burger, other than ‘Making Money Online’ :lol:

Robert March 3, 2008 at 8:30 am

There is nothing like a good burger joint. Never been to Wally’s, but I heard it’s good. Sorry to see it go.

Keith Cash March 3, 2008 at 8:40 am

Hate to here that :sad:

Maybe the surge of support, they will change their mind :smile:

All the old burger joints I went to as a child are now closed.

Online Affiliate Network March 3, 2008 at 8:58 am

Too bad… never been in that place anyway. :)

Zac Johnson March 3, 2008 at 9:13 am

haha, so ridiculous… even when it isn’t about your blog, you still get on tv! :twisted:

James Wilcox March 3, 2008 at 9:13 am

John, looks like a good burger but you must work out all the time…how do you stay so thin when you eat lunch out all the time? :shock:

Justin Rumpf March 3, 2008 at 9:19 am

What does it cost to keep a place like this open? $50,000? With all the money you make online maybe it is time to invest in something like a burger place. If you were truly sad you would perform a John Chow buy out. Seriously, it is probably pocket change for a guy like you. Why dont you diverisfy and keep wally burger open?

John Chow March 3, 2008 at 10:16 am

Buying the business is not the problem – it’s for sale for $22,000. However, where are you going to put it? The landlord is refusing to renew the lease because he can sell the land to a developer and turn it into a multi-million dollar condo project.

MoneyNing March 3, 2008 at 11:10 am

I’m no lawyer, but couldn’t you just use the exact same layout, imaging etc once the business is closed?

I guess what I’m saying is, “what’s the point of buying something if it’s going to close down since they won’t be suing you for IP reasons?”

Justin Rumpf March 3, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Think about it, you could post pictures of cheeseburgers all day for the tax write-off. Maybe you could take a picture of the whole place and then write off the purchase price ($22,000) as a business expense.

Hmmm, cheese….

MoneyNing March 3, 2008 at 5:24 pm

John can post pictures of cheeseburgers all day for tax write-offs without paying $22k for it. Write offs help him pay less tax, doesn’t mean he can gain money out of it. It’s like buying things on sale because you are still paying 80% of original price for it when it’s 20% off.

Justin Rumpf March 3, 2008 at 6:37 pm

You must be John’s money man. I’ll stop commenting because you obviously know more than me.
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Think Like An SOB March 3, 2008 at 9:29 am

Maybe they will put an In-n-Out Burger joint there…which would make up for Wally’s closing in spades.

Making Money on the Internet March 3, 2008 at 9:45 am

that sucks lol

Ruthie March 3, 2008 at 10:35 am

You looked great, John! Always a pleasure seeing your handsome face! HeHe! Actually, reminds me of a neat burger joint in my old college town in Starkville, MS called Christie’s. Pretty darn yummy!!

Priyam Malhotra March 3, 2008 at 10:51 am

Never heard about Wally’s coz nothing like than in New Delhi India.

Here we have McDonalds and Nirulas (Indian Brand but Awesome) and not to forget KFC.

If Nirulas closes i would seriously die!!! :???: :cry:

MoneyNing March 3, 2008 at 11:08 am

Another chance to go into main stream media :) Good job John!

Mike Huang March 3, 2008 at 11:51 am

Seems like you got a lot of FACE TIME :)

-Mike

natespost March 3, 2008 at 12:34 pm

It’s sad, but the “little guy” CAN compete with the big franchises and corps. This apparently stems from a problem with the lease. If the business has been ther for 50 yrs, why do they not own the property? Was the new “owner” leasing the property from the former owner?

Terry Tay March 3, 2008 at 1:22 pm

You need to be wearing your JohnChow.com T-Shirt for those types of things John :lol:

Times are changing and small businesses are being replaced by big box stores and big restaurants. You would think if something is popular it would be able to remain a part of the community. I’ve never been to Wally’s so I don’t know how good the burgers are, but I’ll take John’s word for it that they are.
~Terry

Start Blogging March 3, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Aw that sucks! Nice tv shots, lookin’ good.

Affiliate Confession March 3, 2008 at 3:17 pm

The Dot Com Mogul is even more famous!

Royal Radande March 3, 2008 at 3:28 pm

John,
It sucks..looks like good food. Made me want to get a burger all of the sudden.

natespost March 3, 2008 at 3:41 pm

I’ll take a greasy, sloppy locally owned burger over any franchise burger any day.

Jake Cohen March 3, 2008 at 4:03 pm

That’s sad, really sad… I had no idea. I visited there two years ago when I went on vacation in Vancouver. A place that’s been around since the 60′s, closing down! Unbelievable, unbelievable! Big industries just ruin everything.

http://www.TalkPrice.net

Tech Blog March 3, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Chow and food never far apart :D

Mayank Rocks March 3, 2008 at 6:38 pm

I tend to agree with you haha. He eats too much it seems :P

natespost March 3, 2008 at 5:27 pm

Now I’m hungry!

Saam March 3, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Bummer, those onion rings sure did look good. At least you got to be on TV, no fair!

Affiliate Confession March 3, 2008 at 8:43 pm

We have a Tasty Freeze in Melbourne FL that’s been here since 1952, I think it’s one of the original stores. The place is a dump, but everyone still goes there and you have to wait 10 to 15 minutes to get ice cream on a Fri or Sat night. I can’t imagine it will last much longer. The pace of progress is gobbling up these nostalgic little diners and ice cream shops and that’s a bummer.

Kiley March 4, 2008 at 1:42 am

Well, hello neighbor!
N. Melbourne resident here.

Seopher March 4, 2008 at 1:22 am

I reckon you should try and buy the premises and run a burger bar called “John Cow” (with the guy who runs JohnCow.com)

Robert March 4, 2008 at 4:26 am

That is an EXCELLENT idea. John, you could hire a good manager to run it and make passive income off of it. Then you can frequent it like you used to and continue eating those burgers. That will also give me time to head out there and try the place out.

Krsto March 4, 2008 at 6:32 am

Why all the excellent ideas go to John??

Jason March 4, 2008 at 7:48 am

Should have shouted “John Chow Dot Com” on the way out the door. :cool:

How to Blog March 4, 2008 at 8:42 am

The John Chow/Cow Diner?
Thats gone a ring to it!

Robert March 4, 2008 at 9:22 am

How about Chow Burgers?

Make Money Talks March 4, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Huge companies will strike down all that is good!

Steven March 4, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Hey John,

When I read Wally’s Burgers was closing I was both shocked and disappointed, but not really surprised. Every time I drive by the sign it makes me smile. Now what am I supposed to smile at on Kingsway? :sad:

iPhone in Canada March 4, 2008 at 5:39 pm

haha, just saw the clip now. Nice work in front of the camera John.
So are we going there on Saturday? I have not tried a burger there before! :grin:

Tony March 4, 2008 at 6:32 pm

10 blocks away from where I live but never went there before. I don’t remember there is any competition over there. Few Chinese restaurants and Churches chicken, and MacDonald is over at Victoria.

clickusername March 5, 2008 at 1:30 am

Never been to Wally’s but I just finished watching the bionic burger on Youtube. Would Wally’s burgers react the same way?

Yoon Ho Um March 8, 2008 at 9:11 pm

Hi John & Peeps,

I can’t believe this…!

My friend drove past it on Monday and I was thinking on how I had never gone inside, never even tried one of their world famous burgers and wondering what I would do if someone decided they wanted to really go to Wally’s Burger… could I resist?

It was like ‘well, I’ve never been there before, and it’s been so long now… so why bother going now…’…

and now that option’s being taken away from me…

Now I can’t go “I’m stickin’ to my guns I refuse to go to Wally’s Burgers”…

I never would have guessed that it was lime green… the building, NOT the burgers in case anyone was wondering… ; P

God Bless,
Yoon

Sandra Sigfusson March 8, 2008 at 9:15 pm

I haven’t been to the Wally’s Burger joint in 26 years – a place we frequented while in high school. I had no idea it was still open until you mentioned it was closing down. I guess all good things must come to an end. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to stop in for one last nostalgic burger.

ismabera March 9, 2008 at 8:54 am

I do not eat burgers often but this picture of burger made me :smile: hungry.
Do they deliver burgers in :shock: Slovenia?

Chip March 13, 2008 at 1:31 am

I guess not, but if they deliver in Slovenia, please ask them to make a round trip to Romania, too.

Monty March 17, 2008 at 7:21 pm

I just had a burger, fries and a large banana shake at Wally’s this evening. If you have never been there…check it out before they close. Tasty burgers, decent fries…and the shake was awesome!
God Bless!
Monty