Old Town Dunkin: Out with the old, In with the new

Growing up, I can remember stopping by the Dunkin on Stillwater Ave in Old Town almost every Sunday morning on the way home from Church. We'd order munchkins or if it was a special occasion, maybe even the full-size donuts! And we'd eat them on drive back into Orono.

When I was a teenager, and got my first job at Spotlight Cinemas, we would often drive to that same Dunkin shop and get coffee during our break.

It was at that very Dunkin at 552 Stillwater that I tried my first ice-coffee, where I learned black coffee was not my favorite, and where my friends and I would meet up to catch up, when we came home on break from college.

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Needless to say, driving by "my Dunkin" shop this week was bitter sweet. To see a place where so many memories were made, stand bare; stripped of all signage and closed to the public was kind of sad. As was the big blue dumpster set up beside it.

The big white sign on the post of where that familiar Orange and White sign had been lit up for so many years read "Moved to 975 Stillwater Ave."

Now it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, as I had seen the work they'd been doing to the old Tim Horton's building down the road. It had been vacant for some time, after that restaurant closed in 2019. But then in 2020, construction vehicles would make their way in and out of the parking lot. So we knew something was going on.

Then, a couple of weeks ago the "Opening soon" signs popped up on the old building that was now sporting a new Dunkin logo .

Then, just a few days after seeing those signs, the new place was open!

My friends and I wondered how it made sense to have 3 Dunkin shops, all on the same stretch of road, and all within a mile or so of each other? So we started to speculate if one of the other two shops, the newer one up by the interstate, or the veteran shop down my the school, would close. My secret hope was that my old familiar haunt would be spared.

Alas, if was not meant to be. And the newer Dunkin has now taken the place of the old one.

To be fair, I did duck in through the drive through on my way home the other night, and from what I can tell, it looks pretty amazing in there. They've done a good job. And the folks working at the new shop are all quite friendly.

I don't know what's to come of the building that held the Dunkin of my youth. That remains to be seen. But for now, it's out with the old and in with the new. Wishing them the best of luck.