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Mar 13, 2008 5:16 pm US/Central
Kincaid's Plans To Move Fort Worth Location
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Their slogan is 'where friends meet to eat', but soon 'friends' who meet at Kincaid's Hamburgers will be getting together at a different location.
It seems the North Texas landmark will soon be loading up, moving out, and taking their famous hamburgers with them.
Folks might not think much of the original Kincaid's location at 4901 Camp Bowie Blvd., in Fort Worth. The old 3,793-square-foot cinder block building doesn't have insulation and isn't very appealing to the eye, but is one that diners have known for generations.
The business began as Kincaid's Grocery until the meat cutter that worked there, O.R. Gentry, bought the business and began selling hamburgers. While the Gentry's bought the store name, they didn't buy the building.
After several deaths in the Kincaid family, the building was inherited by Lois Corbett. Now Corbett is raising the rent to three times what the Gentry's were paying. The building owner wants to raise the rent from $7 per square-foot to $27 per square foot, plus 8-percent of profits.
The Gentry's say the price is just too 'big a bite'.
Negotiations have failed and after 62 years at the Camp Bowie location the Gentry's say it looks like it's time to move. "They think that this building is so important to us and means so much to us, for a lot of emotional and personal reasons, that we'll pay anything to stay here," explained owner Ron Gentry. "But they've pushed it beyond the point that that's true. We won't stay here for that."
The Gentry's say they were told that if they didn't agree to the rent increase that they would have to be out by mid-April, but they talked the landlord out of that and bought some time to look for a new place.
Patrons of the iconic Fort Worth burger bar say they're very disappointed in the move. Many have been coming to the Camp Bowie location for decades. "I mean look around at all the articles and pictures on the walls, this place is Fort Worth," said Susan Mitchell, who has been coming to the location for 30 years.
Jim Ashley has been going to the Fort Worth Kincaid's location for lunch for 10 years. "It's a shame. I was hoping they would keep this location," he says. "It's a great atmosphere. You know you're in Fort Worth when you're in here."
Gentry says they are looking for a new location in west Fort Worth and unless something happens, with rent negotiations, they'll relocate by August.
There are three other Kincaid's locations across the metroplex.
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