Dairy Queen recruiting, Willy T’s closes and another Dollar General opens

Here are a few morsels from the local restaurant and retail world:

There’s a new Dairy Queen opening May 6 in Columbus and it will be recruiting for a 70-person crew 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday at the Georgia Department of Labor’s Columbus Career Center, 700 Veterans Parkway.

The fast-good chain’s website actually calls the new eatery a DQ Grill & Chill and it is located at 6589 Whittlesey Blvd., on the eastern end of Columbus Park Crossing. A city building permit shows $344,287 being spent on the 2,612-square-foot restaurant, with a sign out front indicating McDonald Oil Co., a Summit gas retailer, is the franchise owner.

This looks to be a good summer or part-time job for high school students, with the labor department saying applicants must be 16 and older. Visit www.employgeorgia.com to create an account and upload a resume.

This will be the second Dairy Queen in Columbus, with a location operating for many years at 3580 Macon Road.

Willy T’s closes: The food gods giveth and they taketh away apparently, with the chicken finger establishment known as Willy T’s shutting up shop suddenly last week.

The independently owned outlet had been open for several years at 7325 Fortson Road in Columbus, on the city’s north side and not far from Columbus Park Crossing, the city’s chain store and restaurant hub. A Google reviewer said she loved Willy T’s fried green tomatoes, so she hated to see it go, but hopes another decent eatery will open in its place.

Another Dollar General opens: The discount chain said Monday it is having a grand opening 8 a.m. Saturday for its new store at 3902 U.S. Highway 80, just west of that highway’s intersection with U.S. Highway 280/431.

The occasion calls for “special deals and free prizes,” the retailer said, with the first 50 adult shoppers getting a $10 Dollar General gift card and the first 200 people taking home tote bags.

At last count, there were 16 Dollar General stores in the Columbus-Phenix City market, with seven Dollar Tree locations and 13 Family Dollar outlets, not including one now under construction at 844 Veterans Parkway in the downtown Columbus area. The company has said it will make its debut in the second half of this year.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Dairy Queen recruiting, Willy T’s closes and another Dollar General opens."