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Dunkin’ desert no longer: Stow is renaming itself after beloved coffee brand
“You will become the first-ever ‘Dunkin’, Massachusetts,’ which I think for every Massachusetts resident, that’s the dream.”
Once deprived of Dunkin’s orange- and magenta-tinted embrace, Stow is welcoming the beloved New England brand’s return with style.
In the product placement to end all product placements, the Massachusetts town will rename itself “Dunkin’” for a day July 24 to celebrate the opening of a new location on Great Road — and the official end of Stow’s Dunkin’ drought.
The town’s two former Dunkin’ branches closed within 30 days of each other in 2022, rankling local coffee lovers and sparking online hilarity (see: WBZ reporter Matt Shearer’s viral videos on the saga).
Previously:
“As soon as we heard that the two stores in Stow consecutively … closed, we said, ‘We need to fix that,’” Dunkin’ franchisee Megan Pesce told the town’s Select Board last week.
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She said she and Mark Pesce are excited to keep the historic feel of the 108 Great Road site, formerly home to the long-closed Beef ’N Ale restaurant.
Grace Kirkman, who works with Dunkin’s field marketing team, said temporarily renaming the town is a “fun and different” way to celebrate the opening and poke fun at Stow’s “Dunkin’ desert” reputation.
“You will become the first-ever ‘Dunkin’, Massachusetts,’ which I think for every Massachusetts resident, that’s the dream,” Kirkman told the Select Board, also proposing Dunkin’s mascot, Cuppy, be handed a ceremonial key to the town.
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“We’ve always felt Dunkin’ is synonymous with Massachusetts, and on Thursday the 24th, it literally will be,” Michelle McDonough, the company’s director of field marketing, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to celebrate with the local community next week and welcome everyone to Dunkin’, Mass.!”
The grand opening will also feature a ribbon cutting, 100 days of free coffee for the first 100 Dunkin’ Rewards members in line, a live unveiling of a “Dunkin’ desert” gallery wall, and the presentation of a $5,000 check to the Stow Food Pantry, per a town press release. The July 24 celebration will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The reaction from Stow Select Board members was overwhelmingly positive.
“My only concern is that we don’t do that for every business,” Select Board member Hector Constantzos noted. “But then again, we haven’t been called a ‘desert’ for every business.”
Select Board member Dan Petersen drew laughs as he recalled the ribbing he took when Shearer’s initial “Dunkin’ desert” story went viral.
“I have friends who are from the Massachusetts area who have since relocated to California, and all the way from there, they let us know they were praying for us,” Petersen said. “So I think those prayers have been answered.”
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