By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
For Debra Cloutier and her family, the soon-to-be-open Dunkin’ Donuts will mean a taste of home.
Cloutier moved to Salisbury 14 years ago from New England, where she said she grew up on Dunkin’ Donuts.
The long-awaited Salisbury location on Jake Alexander Boulevard is expected to open in early February. New owners Darshy and Aditi Mehta have removed the white tarps that covered signs at the shuttered franchise for more than a year.
“We’ve been driving by religiously to see if they’re open,” said Cloutier, a teacher assistant at Carson High School who admits she has traveled out of town just to get a Dunkin’ Donuts maple-frosted doughnut.
With her husband David and her parents, Richard and Pauline Cottle, who also moved to Salisbury, Cloutier counts her family among the most loyal Dunkin’ Donuts customers.
“It could open tomorrow and it wouldn’t be soon enough for me,” she said.
Cloutier said she will indulge on Saturdays and Sundays, but her husband will stop by more often on his way to work at the Salisbury Post Office for his favorite, a Boston creme.
Her children have no preference among doughnuts, Cloutier said, just as long as they’re Dunkin’.
The doughnut, coffee and ice cream shop next to Walgreens never opened after it was built more than a year ago. The company didn’t have a franchisee.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.