People who wheeled into Dunkin’ Donuts Monday morning searching for their sugar and java fix were in for a surprise: The doors were locked, with signs informing customers the shop had gone out of business.
But, by late summer, a new doughnut company will be in town. Billy Dorgan Jr., who owns three Krispy Kreme franchises in Mississippi, plans to convert the former Dunkin’ space into his fourth store, Dorgan confirmed Tuesday.
He said he spent 10 months researching the local market and believes support is strong for the store, which is tentatively slated to open in mid-August. Construction will begin in June to add 625 square feet to the site for a “doughnut theater,” where doughnuts will be prepared and glazed, while customers watch.
“I feel the city of Columbus will be pleased; I think it’s going to be a pretty nice operation,” Dorgan said. “We try to create magical moments through our doughnut theater. It’s a warm place where families can come.”
Dorgan also owns Krispy Kreme franchises in Hattiesburg, Gulfport and Ocean Springs. His father, Billy Dorgan Sr., opened Mississippi’s first Krispy Kreme, in Biloxi, 45 years ago.
In other business news, after a three-month delay, work again is underway on a hotel next to Belk department store, on Highway 45 North. The site originally was slated to be a Hampton Inn, but the chain pulled out of the deal, hotel co-owner Sunny Sethi said Monday. The design footprint is being revamped to accommodate a Hyatt Place.
The new, full-service hotel is 35 percent larger than the proposed Hampton Inn and will have 99 rooms, a restaurant and 2,300 square feet of meeting space.
Sethi said the redesign is 90 percent complete and contractors are working this week on the internal framing and installation of the parapet.
He said he’d like the project to be finished by October, but it definitely will be complete by the end of the year.
“We started this project in 2008 and the economic condition of America really hurt us and limited our ability,” Sethi said. “But we ended up with a much better project than originally planned.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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