Work is set to begin on converting the former 7-Eleven store on GAR Highway in Swansea, MA into a new drive-through Dunkin’ Donuts coffee shop and convenience store.
Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owner Fred Lincoln said the work on the building will begin on March 20, with an opening date tentatively set for sometime in mid-May.
The 3,014-square-foot building has been vacant for nearly two years before property owner Apache Oil decided to build a Dunkin’ Donuts/convenience store there, keeping the four existing gas tanks at the site with plans to construct a drive-through window on the exterior of the former convenience store.
Lincoln said the new Dunkin’ Donuts part of the building will feature “plenty of seating.” He was unsure what gas company would be represented at the site but said it would likely be a Mobil.
“It will be competitively priced with the other gas stations in the area like Cumberland Farms and Hess,” Lincoln said.
According to the exterior plans, cars will enter the drive-through area on the right side of the building, order, then travel around the back of the building to reach the pickup window on the left side of the building. The drive-through will accommodate a total of four cars between the order board and the window, and another eight through the plaza leading up to the board. Left turns into and out of the plaza will continue to be prohibited due to the speed of traffic along the Route 6 corridor, just as they were when 7-Eleven was open.
Lincoln, who leases the new store, runs the other Dunkin’ Donuts a half mile up the street at Milford Plaza at the intersection of Route 6 and Route 118, one of the region’s most hazardous intersections.
Lincoln said he is unsure whether he will close the Milford Plaza Dunkin’ Donuts once the new store opens in May.
“We haven’t made that decision yet but we will need to relatively soon,” said Lincoln. “Give it two weeks.”
