Riverdale Road getting Cheddar’s, J. Dawgs, Super Chix, more
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- The outside of the new Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen taking shape at 4171 Riverdale Road in Riverdale, photographed Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. It’s one of several new businesses coming to Riverdale Road.
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- The outside of the new Crave Cookies location on Riverdale Road in South Ogden, photographed Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022.
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- The outside of the Chick-fil-A location on Riverdale Road in Riverdale, photographed Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. The locale is being rebuilt.
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- The outside of the new Take 5 oil change locale taking shape at 4021 Riverdale Road in Riverdale, photographed Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. It’s one of several new businesses coming to Riverdale Road.
RIVERDALE — Things are booming along Riverdale Road, the busy commercial corridor that draws visitors from around Weber County and beyond.
Several new eateries are coming to the strip — Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, J. Dawgs, Fiiz, Super Chix and, preliminarily, Shake Shack. Chik-fil-A is temporarily closed for remodeling while Crave Cookies opened a new Riverdale Road location last month, though technically next door to Riverdale in adjacent South Ogden.
Change is a constant along Riverdale Road, but Mike Eggett, the city’s community development director, says the current flurry of expansion is out of the ordinary. He said many of the new restaurants coming fit in the “fast casual” category — generally fast service, but perhaps of a higher quality than traditional fast-food fare.
“This has been an abnormal growth year for Riverdale, for sure,” he said. The coming of new businesses is a regular thing, he went on, “but not to this level.”
Restaurants aren’t the only businesses opening up in the city, heavily reliant on the sales tax revenue generated at the Riverdale Road outlets. A new Maverik on Riverdale Road between Interstate 15 and I-84 opens next Tuesday. Clothing outlet Sierra and home furnishings seller HomeGoods –part of TJX Companies, which also operates T.J. Maxx and Marshalls — will also be opening along Riverdale Road.
Many dream on social media about bringing a Trader Joe’s to Riverdale, but Eggett says that isn’t in the cards, though city officials have reached out to the firm’s corporate leaders.
“We’ve tried, but corporate said they’re not interested in expanding in Utah at this time,” Eggett said. The existing stores in Utah — in Cottonwood Heights, Orem and Salt Lake City — apparently don’t do as well as locations elsewhere.
Here’s a rundown of the business activity:
Cheddar’s: Cheddar’s is building a location at 4171 Riverdale Road in front of Lowe’s, on part of the plot where the old Best Buy building used to sit. Construction is moving along and Eggett expects an opening date of early next year.
“We’re all about good food, made well for a good price,” reads the firm’s promotional material. “How do we pull that off? By cooking from scratch.”
Cheddar’s launched in 1979 in Irving, Texas, and now has locations in 28 states, according to its website.
J. Dawgs: J. Dawgs, where the focus is hot dogs, is to open at 4104 Riverdale Road, sharing an existing structure now housing a Starbucks.
J. Dawgs is remodeling the space to suit its needs, quicker than building from the ground up, but Eggett isn’t sure about the timeline for opening. The building at 4104 Riverdale Road also contains a third, yet-to-be filled space.
Brigham Young University grad Jayson Edwards launched J. Dawgs in 2004 and it has six other sites around Utah, according to its website.
Fiiz: Fiiz, the Utah-based dirty soda maker, is to open a new stand-alone location in a drive-thru building to take shape in the 4000 block of Riverdale Road, northeast of Denny’s on the west side of the road.
A new Take 5 oil change location is currently taking shape near where the new Fiiz is to be built. Fiiz has many locations around Weber County, the state and beyond.
Super Chix: Super Chix is to open at 1140 W. Riverdale Road Suite G in the location that formerly housed Sweeto Burrito before it closed.
“They’re moving along pretty fast,” Eggett said. He said the new location could open by late November.
Super Chix features a range of chicken filet sandwiches, chicken tenders, frozen custard and more. “At Super Chix, we are super into chicken. We think it’s just about the most perfect food in the world,” reads the company’s website.
The first Super Chix location opened in Dallas, Texas, in 2015 and it now has 14 locations around the country with more coming, according to its website. It was founded by a former Five Guys franchisee.
Shake Shack: Shake Shack preliminarily plans to build a structure to house a new location here at 4142 Riverdale Road, northeast of Raising Cane’s.
The old Farmer’s Insurance building at the spot has been demolished and “it’s just vacant ground now,” Eggett said. The site plan for the proposed Shake Shack has been approved, but a building permit for the new structure has yet to be issued.
Shake Shack, which started as a hot dog cart in New York City, offers burgers, chicken, custard and more. It has 265 locations around the United States and Mexico and more around the world.
Crave Cookies: The cookie location opened at 4013 Riverdale Road on Aug. 20 in the same structure housing the new Napoli’s Italian Restaurant.
“We are very excited to have them in our city,” said Matt Dixon, the city manager in South Ogden.
Crave is based in Midvale and has eight locations, including the Riverdale site. Seven are in Utah and one is in Odessa, Florida.
Chick-fil-A: The Chick-fil-A location at 4067 Riverdale Road temporarily closed its doors on July 21 so the structure could be remodeled, with a 16-week construction timeline, according to its Instagram account. That would put its reopening at around mid-November, if the timeline holds.
“The remodel will provide double drive-thru lanes, an expanded kitchen, and an updated dining area,” reads the Instagram post.
Maverik: The new Maverik is taking shape at 1472 W. Riverdale Road. Eggett said it is a travel center, meant to cater to truckers and other interstate traffic.
Sierra, HomeGoods: The two retail outlets will open in the former Gordman’s building at 1101 W. Riverdale Road, next door to the current Best Buy location. The space is to be divvied to house the two businesses.
Sierra offers clothing while HomeGoods focuses on home decor and furnishings, kitchenware and more.
Bath & Body Works: Bath & Body Works will open at a vacant space at 4205 Riverdale Road, south of JC Penney and Firehouse Subs, according to Eggett.
Signage outside the Riverdale location says Both & Body Works is to open in October.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with regard to the Bath & Body Works plans.