Dunkin Donuts coming back to St. Louis

tb1000 · PostFeb 14, 2008#12008-02-14T17:41+00:00

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 113&EDATE=

Dunkin' Donuts, the world's

largest coffee and bakery quick-service restaurant chain, is in the midst

of a national expansion to increase its franchise locations in the U.S.

Fueling this growth is today's announcement that St. Louis is now open for

market development with over 100 new restaurants projected over the next

several years.

Dunkin' Donuts' St. Louis launch is part of an aggressive national

growth strategy, which includes expanding in existing markets while

entering new cities throughout the country. The company is actively seeking

new franchisees to own and operate a minimum of five new restaurants in St.

Louis and all throughout the country to help direct the company's future

growth.

....continued

southsidepride · PostFeb 14, 2008#22008-02-14T17:49+00:00

well if Starbucks decides that the proposed location by the Georgian is one of the 350 they will yank maybe Dunkin Donuts can go in on that spot.

dweebe · PostFeb 14, 2008#32008-02-14T17:53+00:00

A location downtown would be guaranteed money.

stlmizzoutiger · PostFeb 14, 2008#42008-02-14T18:05+00:00

How long has it been since Dunkin Donuts was in St. Louis? Early '90s?

brickandmortar · PostFeb 14, 2008#52008-02-14T18:06+00:00

There's one in Fairview Heights, so technically they never left.

stlmizzoutiger · PostFeb 14, 2008#62008-02-14T18:07+00:00

brickandmortar wrote:There's one in Fairview Heights, so technically they never left.

I don't make it over to the Metro East much...thanks for the info!

debaliviere · PostFeb 14, 2008#72008-02-14T18:23+00:00

dweebe wrote:A location downtown would be guaranteed money.

Totally. How about somewhere on Olive?

10-intuition · PostFeb 14, 2008#82008-02-14T18:50+00:00

stlmizzoutiger wrote:How long has it been since Dunkin Donuts was in St. Louis? Early '90s?

yep, I remember there were several around STL a while back. There are a lot of remains of the former Dunkin buildings all over town. Olive and Fee, Brentwood near Manchester, and some others.

Any mention of timeframe they will return to STL? I see Dunkin Donuts all over the place, literally, in Boston. There are 3 locations within 2 blocks of each other. They have some good coffee and donuts.

Also, Baskin Robbins is making a comeback here and in other cities they are attached to Dunkins.

moorlander · PostFeb 14, 2008#92008-02-14T19:37+00:00

donuts, do people still eat those things?

mcarril · PostFeb 14, 2008#102008-02-14T19:47+00:00

At this point Dunkin Donuts in almost a misnomer. In addition to d onuts they carry bagels, muffins croissants, breakfast sandwiches, and they've made a real push on their coffee in recent years. Some shops even have full deli's in them for lunch and dinner.

blzhrpmd2 · PostFeb 14, 2008#112008-02-14T20:16+00:00

The Pasta House Pronto on Manchester near Geyer was the go-to Dunkin' Donuts for my family. Besides downtown, I think these could succeed in most of the neighborhoods in the city (one on Pershing to spur more retail in DB would be sweet). Some free standing shops could make for some cool construction, too.

MattnSTL · PostFeb 14, 2008#122008-02-14T20:28+00:00

I just said to my dad last night that I wish Dunkin Donuts was still behind our house. I loved that when I was a kid. Unfortunately, they moved out when I was like 4. Although the Sara Lee store was nice while it was there.

southsidepride · PostFeb 14, 2008#132008-02-14T20:29+00:00

mcarril wrote:At this point Dunkin Donuts in almost a misnomer. In addition to d onuts they carry bagels, muffins croissants, breakfast sandwiches, and they've made a real push on their coffee in recent years. Some shops even have full deli's in them for lunch and dinner.

this is true, and it has caused Denis Leary much consternation.

nora · PostFeb 14, 2008#142008-02-14T20:39+00:00

My experience from Rhode Island is this: the most Urban D'n'D's with no drive thru tend to have the smallest crowds. The suburban and small town locations are more likely to be busy all day and each have a crowd of regulars, like retired people who meet for Saturday morning coffee talk.

Also, that state is hooked on coffee and donuts and the D'n'D cup on the way to highschool or work is a cultural icon. The market is so competitive there between D'n'D, Tim Horton's, and HoneyDew that Krispy Kreme coulndn't break in a couple of years ago and withdrew. It doesn't seem as popular here.

Now having said all that, I personally would visit a downtown St. Louis location and I hope they would be open late and on weekends.

jmedwick · PostFeb 14, 2008#152008-02-14T21:15+00:00

Blzhrpmd2 wrote:Some free standing shops could make for some cool construction, too.

Having reviewed development applications from DnD, freestanding shops and cool construction don't go together.

ben1040 · PostFeb 14, 2008#162008-02-14T21:37+00:00

brickandmortar wrote:There's one in Fairview Heights, so technically they never left.

Dude, you just made my day and you didn't even know it.

On the other hand, I did have some Tim Hortons just an hour ago here in the airport in Vancouver. If only we could get THOSE in St Louis.

rbb · PostFeb 14, 2008#172008-02-14T22:10+00:00

JMedwick wrote:
Blzhrpmd2 wrote:Some free standing shops could make for some cool construction, too.

Having reviewed development applications from DnD, freestanding shops and cool construction don't go together.

A Freestanding Dunkin' Donuts in Orlando, FL:

A "new concept" freestanding Dunkin' Donuts in Philadelphia:

-RBB

jmedwick · PostFeb 14, 2008#182008-02-14T22:31+00:00

^ Good to see those models are out there, even if they aren't making their way to some New Jersey communities. Next time one comes in with the same old suburban schlock, I will make sure to bring up such alternative designs.

jmatthewmckee · PostFeb 14, 2008#192008-02-14T22:56+00:00

Where is the DnD in Fairview? There used to be one on Lincoln Trail but that store closed years ago I think.

juiceinkirkwood · PostFeb 15, 2008#202008-02-15T00:40+00:00

I don't think its there any more. Ive never noticed it, and when Googling it, I only found one in Wood River.

Doing a search for "62208" on dunkindonuts.com yields 0 results.

jivecitystl · PostFeb 15, 2008#212008-02-15T01:49+00:00

There used to be the COOLEST Dunkin' Donuts downtown at 4th & Pine, on what is now the expanded lobby restaurant of the Crown Plaza Hotel. It was a tiny free standing octagon-shaped building that was busy ALL THE TIME. I remember going down there while skipping school when I was in high school. Let me tell you, in those days (mid '90s) downtown was BUSY BUSY BUSY at lunchtime. Seriously, there were crowds of pedestrians all over the place everyday. I got bamboozled by some hustlers who were playing "hide the bottle cap" on a newspaper dispenser outside Dunkin' Donuts. Being the naive suburban kid that I was, they fooled me for $10 plus my cheap watch. I miss that place.

xing · PostFeb 15, 2008#222008-02-15T02:54+00:00

brickandmortar wrote:There's one in Fairview Heights, so technically they never left.

That's not a Dunkin Donuts, but it use to be. It's a Donut King or something like that. It's basically the same thing, but they changed the name.

That place has a lot of good memories for me. It's in the area of FH where I grew up. Most of the stores there are ma and pa types, although everything is starting to close down and move further east.

stlcardsblues1989 · PostFeb 15, 2008#232008-02-15T05:23+00:00

I'm glad to see them moving into St. Louis.

framer · PostFeb 15, 2008#242008-02-15T05:26+00:00

Wow! Who'd have thought that a donut joint could move so many people to tears?

stlcardsblues1989 · PostFeb 15, 2008#252008-02-15T05:29+00:00

I wonder where the first location would be. Downtown would be nice. Maybe in the base of one of the new loft developments? Or would that be too cheap? I know sometimes those loft developments go for more expensive retail, but if one's gonna have a grocery store I'd think a Dunkin Donuts could work as well.