Duluth liquor store demolished for donuts

The demolition of the former Warehouse Liquor building on Central Entrance and Basswood Avenue in Duluth last week has cleared the way for construction of the city’s first Dunkin’ Donuts shop.
At least, it’ll be the first that anyone can recall with certainty.
A freestanding donut shop will be built on the one-story, 2,800-square foot building’s foundation, franchise owner Brian Weidendorf has said.
Plans are for a 2,300-square-foot coffee shop with indoor seating, a drive-thru, 22 parking spaces and landscaping. It will offer an expanded all-day menu, including hot and cold beverages, breakfast sandwiches, wake-up wraps and bakery items.
A late spring opening is the developer’s goal.
Weidendorf’s company, Donco LLC, based in Hinckley, plans to open six more Dunkin’ Donuts stores in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin in the next two to three years. In an interview last summer, Weidendorf said the second one would open on South Tower Avenue in Superior, followed by stores in cities such as Hibbing, Brainerd and Grand Rapids.
A later, second wave of openings would include more stores in the Twin Ports, he said last summer.
The Northland franchises are considered a key part of the Massachusetts-based doughnut and coffeehouse chain’s current push to re-enter the Minnesota market after an absence of more than 15 years.