It’s Time To Rename ‘Cracker Barrel Blvd.’ in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo hasn’t had a Cracker Barrel since 2018. For years, it stood proud just off of I-94, west of the Highway-131 exchange, serving as a beacon for weary travelers making the trek between Chicago and Detroit, either late at night, or for that early, country breakfast before hitting the road again. 

But now, it sits empty, and the land around it grows taller with brush while no immediate plans are known as to what will happen to its former location. But there is one thing that still remains of its past that should probably change if something new is to ever come to that space – the name of the road leading to it. 

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Kalamazoo may not have had a Cracker Barrel in six years, but its memory still remains – both as a shell of a building, and the road leading up to it – Cracker Barrel Blvd.

It also, unfortunately, served as the backdrop for a horrible mass shooting event in 2017, and never really seemed to recover. To my knowledge (and if anyone knows otherwise, please correct me), there are no plans to put ANOTHER Cracker Barrel in the same location west of town. 

From the standpoint of a stop-off from highway traveling, the now-empty land is in a great place, AND right next to a few hotels where guests could even stop and rest. So putting a new restaurant in its place makes perfect sense. But the name of the road leading up to it is a bit off-putting, and still conjures memories of what happened. 

Cracker Barrel Blvd. Is still in existence, and while it may be a short jog with only one bend in it, the name carries weight. And with that weight, a barrier that any future resident of the old establishment might have to deal with. 

So, maybe it’s time for a reconsideration of the name for Cracker Barrel Blvd. And I have a few suggestions...