Sonic returning to Rexburg in former Arctic Circle lot
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REXBURG — A fast food favorite is returning to the Rexburg in the former Arctic Circle lot on Second East.
Construction for the new Sonic Drive-In will begin around the first two weeks of July, and it should be open by the end of the summer, the real estate team that oversaw the transition says.
Sonic shut the doors on its previous Rexburg location a few years ago. But the real estate team that oversaw the transition says round two will be different.
“Sonic’s launched a whole new concept where they actually have a dine-in restaurant for all of their new stores,” said Rick Robinson, co-owner of Team Greene Real Estate.
He said the new Sonics have modernized the way customers can order their food.
“They have these new digital boards that are all interactive and touch screen, and you can actually pull up next to them and build your order,” Robinson said.
Robinson said after the closing of Arctic Circle in January, his company reached out to the community through social media for input on what should come next.
“We had actually created a post on (Facebook) that just went viral. It went all over the place. We were having thousands of likes and hundreds of comments on it,” Robinson said.”What we had (said was), ‘We’re in charge of finding a new business to come here. What does the community want?'”
Robinson said Sonic was among many companies suggested by locals, and they reached out to almost all of the ones people posted. He said popular comments were Chick-Fil-A, Panda Express, In-N-Out, Cafe Zupas, and even a bank.
Not long after the post was made, owners of regional Sonic Franchises expressed interest in buying the Arctic Circle property.
“For Sonic it was kind of a perfect fit,” Robinson said.
He said Sonic will be under new management, and customers can look forward to bringing back a town favorite. Team Greene co-owner Travis Greene said he’s excited for the future of Rexburg and wanted to make sure this change was a smooth and seamless experience.
“The previous owner of Arctic Circle was sad to have shut down the facility because he knew how much it did mean to the community. We were very excited as a company at Team Green Real Estate to have helped fill that void that the community felt and getting Sonic to that location,” Greene said.
Sonic managers did not return requests for comment.