If you can’t wait until June or July for Dunkin’ Donuts to open inside the Loop at the former Arby’s at South Shepherd and Fairview, you might plan to come here, the former SmashBurger at 10705 Westheimer, where a company rep says that the donut makers will open in May the first of 16 planned Houston stores. Sharing the Westchase strip center with a Cricket store and Brookstreet Bar-B-Que, the coffee-colored endcap has undergone at least one other renovation: A drive-thru lane now cuts through what had been SmashBurger’s treeside patio.
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- Previously on Swamplot: The First Inside-the-Loop Dunkin’ Donuts?, Maybe the Westchase SmashBurger’s Successor Will Do Better, Dollars to Donuts, Dunkin’ Donuts’ Big Texas Push, Dunkin’ Donuts Coming Back to Bellaire
Photos: Allyn West
I am now officially confused about why this blog is paying so much attention to a common purveyor of vile junk food like DD. Has it become hip? That must be it.
@Chef-
The confusion on your part may be that this is a real estate related blog, not a foodie/vile junk food blog. I may be wrong but, I don’t think the presence of Dunkin Donuts on this blog really has anything to do with DD being hip or not.
@Chef: Dunkin Donuts is making a big move in the Houston market. Swamplot has always reported on the big plays by fast food franchises as that news is important for the commercial real estate market. Anyone holding an interest in retail pad sites or looking for a retail pad will be interested in whether a big franchise player is looking. And as a child, my favorite breakfast was two chocolate frosted dunkin donuts and a coke. Thanks to a divorce, my father would always let me indulge when I visited him in the NE. But now, I cannot stomach the vile things.
Whoopee, who cares about donuts that taste like they’ve been sitting out for 3 days? Yuck. I miss Krispy Kreme Hot N’ Ready. Damn Adkins diet and Shipley’s are why Krispy Kreme couldn’t compete in this town.
The real story is this is really Phase II. Phase I expansion plans were scrapped – 130 stores or something.
They are in the coffee business! Donuts are just a distraction.
If you liked Krispy Kreme, you will like the most recent incarnation of Dunkin Donuts. As for rumors of a donut war in Houston….there will be blood.
@Craig
It was more like 170 stores. It was a ridiculously over-ambitious plan.
I don’t get why they keep advertising them so strongly as a donut shop. I grew up around a lot of dunkin donuts and they are clearly known for their coffee, which is cheaper than starbucks, and their ice coffee tastes better!
THE SIGN IS UP! Open, open, open.
I saw the sign up this morning too! Getting excited for them to open. I’m sick of driving to Bellaire every 2 weeks for donuts. I can’t get out there until late, and it’s hit or miss on getting Munchkins. I’m from the N.E. so Dunkin has been a staple. I’ve lived in Houston for 5 years and it’s something I miss. I don’t like going to Starbucks for coffee. DD is the only place I can say “Give me a coffee with cream and sugar” and it comes out perfect every time! Shipley’s has great donuts, just not the ones I’m accustomed to. And no one down here does donut holes like Dunkin.