Mr & Mrs Bob Hewitt opened the Central Ave. Dairy Queen location, in Charlotte, NC in late 1949 or early 1950.  They were true pioneers.  Taking a gamble both a young business and a new business model called franchising.  I’m sure that they had no idea that as a result of their gamble, people would still be enjoying DQ soft serve ice cream at the same location and in the same building some 60 year later.
    
In 1979, Lacy Walters purchased the Central Ave. location.  This was his second location in Charlotte and has been operated by his family for a little more than the last 3 decades.  It is currently operated by his son Steven and his wife Angie.  Their sons are the beginning of the third generation of operators.  “It has been a privilege to be a part of a business that has been around for so long.  We hear a lot of stories from people that remember coming here as children.  There are a lot of fond memories wrapped up in this old store and we want to do our part to keep creating them.”, said Steven.

In late 2009, some visible changes took place.  The old Dairy Queen neon sign on the building and the old Dairy Queen logo pole sign were replaced with the new corporate branded signage.  Although we hated to loose that part of our historical contribution to the area, we look forward to continuing to serve great soft serve products as has been the tradition for the last 60 years.