‘End of an era’: Halifax residents reminisce as iconic Quinpool McDonald’s closes

Halifax residents will dine at the Quinpool McDonald's one last time on Friday, as the spot which is being described as a "generational hangout" is set to close this weekend.

It’s the “end of an era” for some Halifax residents, as a longstanding McDonald’s location on Quinpool Road will serve its last burger before permanently closing down the kitchen early on Saturday morning.

David Backman, who launched a Facebook event page last week encouraging people to come out and purchase that “one last Junior Chicken” during the location’s last day, said he initially made the post to notify friends and neighbourhood residents of the establishment’s closure.

“I wanted to give everybody a chance to order one last menu item, snap a picture of that beautiful mural, or have a seat in those old ’90s metal chairs,” he said, referencing a painting of the Halifax Public Gardens that’s present on the wall in the location’s dining area.

Backman said the page ended up generating more traffic than initially anticipated — as hundreds of responses are now flooding in from current and former Halifax residents as they share memories made at the burger joint.

“Even internationally, people who are still connected to Halifax that went to university here, or lived here for other various reasons, maybe McDonald’s was their first job, or they’ve got a story from the other side of the counter as a customer.”

Although Backman admits he isn’t a “big fan” of most fast-food chains, he described the McDonald’s on Quinpool Road as one of the few restaurants in the city where one can still enjoy a nostalgic dining experience, due to the lack of interior changes throughout the last few decades.

“This particular location hasn’t really been upgraded since the 1990s. So, when you go in there, the furniture and the whole aesthetic of the place has been unchanged for my entire lifetime,” he continued. “You can still get that piece of that nostalgia if you stop into the store today, or at least you can until 4 a.m. tomorrow morning.”

Backman, who grew up nearby, said the neighbourhood McDonald’s was a “generational hangout spot” for his group of friends.