Editor’s note: The following article has been updated to correct an error regarding the site of the Dunkin’ franchise that will relocate to the Compo Shopping Center,
By Thane Grauel
WESTPORT — Donuts will fill the hole at a local shopping center.
Two vacancies at the Compo Shopping Center on Post Road East are slated to become a new Dunkin’ Donuts shop, relocating from a site at 606 Post Road East.
The town’s Architectural Review Board recently reviewed plans to combine two storefront entrances — 385 and 387 Post Road East — into one for a new location of the New England-born chain that has expanded worldwide and is re-branding simply as Dunkin’.
The storefronts, now vacant, sit between Planet Pizza and Westport Cleaners (and beyond that is a CVS pharmacy) in the shopping plaza across Post Road East from Trader Joe’s. In the past, the storefronts have housed a luncheonette, barber shop and many other tenants.
Way back, the CVS spot was a five-and-dime store.
Jim Cain of Cain Management, the franchise holder for the Dunkin’ shop at 606 Post Road East, confirmed Monday that the. business will be moving westward to the new location at the Compo Shopping Center. He said a March opening is being planned,
The owner of the shopping center, listed in documents as “Westbrook Inc. c/o Torrey Brooks,” is the applicant. Brooks appointed architect Bill Achilles of Achilles Architects as the agent.
“I think it’d be really exciting to have someone in those two spaces,” said ARB Chairman Ward French.
“This would be a relocation of the other Dunkin’ Donuts,” Achilles told Ward.
There are three Dunkin’ franchises in town, one at 23 Bridge Square (next to what was Peter’s Bridge Market) at the foot of the William F. Cribari Bridge, another at 606 Post Road East and one at 1533 Post Road East, at the corner of Maple Avenue North.
The coffee and confections business began with a single store in Quincy, Mass., in 1950, and has since grown from a New England-focused chain to more than 12,000 outlets in 45 nations.
There are actually 3 Dunkin’ franchises in town. The third is a few yards away from the new location — across from Fresh Market, near the UPS store and Westport Hardware.
And the Southport location isn’t that far!
Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins are part of the same company. Many locations have both franchises. Will B-R move into the new location, too?
This will make traffic in Compo center even most obnoxious as no one will park in back and walk – everyone will crowd the spaces outside the CVS.
Yuck is all I can say!
Looks to me more like a relocation from the prior Kowalsky shopping center (606 ESS)
We are looking forward to having Dunkin join us in Compo Center. We also have some other surprises coming up in 2022 and we’re getting excited about them. Stay tuned.
Dunkin will make an already bad parking lot even worse.
Was there a clothing store in Compo Center named “Brooks” in the 1960″s?
Yes! Brooks Hirsch.
I travel out of the Compo Shopping Center parking lot every day. This is a terrible location for Dunkin. This parking lot is already hazardous, especially at its CVS end. The entry/exit at the Post Rd, which is awkwardly offset from the Trader Joe’s entry/exit, is one of the worst in town. I witness near-accidents here every day, both in the parking lot and when entering or exiting onto the Post Rd. Dunkin generates lots of traffic volume via quick ins and outs. I know this because I work near the Dunkin by Maple Ave.
If additional town bodies are involved in this approval process, I beg them to seriously question the safety of this plan. If there are no other town approvals needed, then I beg the property owner to re-design the front parking lot plan, especially in the entry/exit area at the traffic light. It’s already dangerous. The addition of Dunkin, along with other new tenants that will eventually occupy the other vacant stores in this shopping center, will be a disaster in the making.
“I think it’d be really exciting to have someone in those two spaces,” said ARB Chairman Ward French. Really? Try parking there and pulling out onto the Post Road. . A nightmare- hardly exciting….
Please, PLEASE require the DD tenant to have its entry at the back of the building. I will echo all other readers fear and loathing of the parking and traffic situation in the front. Even the traffic lights at the center of the plaza do not help, because traffic on the Post Road frequently blocks the driveway and you can’t get out even with the green light. It’s a hot mess.
Best point is put Dunkin entrance in the back where there is plenty of parking I realize people might have to walk a little
This relocation is a terrible idea. If I’m a Dunkin franchise owner, I’m looking for a location with plenty of parking that is safe to navigate. This location does not have ample parking, and it is definitely not easy or safe to navigate. Parking is already difficult, people do not stop to allow cars to back out, and the ingress and egress from the center is awful. With all the new Dunkin traffic into and out of that lot, good luck backing your car out, or even finding parking to easily enter CVS or Planet Pizza. Most people are just not going to use the back lot. Sorry, but I’ll take my business to different Dunkin and CVS locations and avoid this shopping center.