Dunkin’ is planning at least nine new stores across the Columbus area, with the first expected to open in late November on East Main Street near Reynoldsburg, according to reporting by Columbus Business First that was summarized by WhatNow Columbus. The expansion would deepen the coffee and doughnut chain’s footprint in Central Ohio through 2027, with additional stores planned on Polaris Parkway, on Holt Road and in Canal Winchester, plus sites in Delaware and Pataskala and three more locations that have not yet been publicly identified.
The operator behind most of the named sites is the Gilligan Company, a Cincinnati-based franchisee that already runs 12 Dunkin’ stores in the Columbus market, according to WhatNow Columbus. Gilligan also operates convenience stores, fuel stations and other quick-service restaurants, and the Columbus-area Dunkin’ plan is described in the reporting as a multi-year build-out rather than a single opening — a pace that would add several new drive-thru and storefront locations to busy suburban corridors at a time when Central Ohio continues to add residents and jobs.
According to WhatNow Columbus, the East Main Street store, at 6051 E. Main St. near Reynoldsburg, is scheduled to open in late November 2026, and a Polaris Parkway store, at 710 Polaris Parkway, is expected to open in December. A Holt Road location in Columbus, in a former White Castle building at 1617 Holt Road, is expected in February or March 2027, and a Canal Winchester location along Winchester Pike near Gender Road is planned for May 2027. The reporting notes that opening dates for some planned stores remain subject to change.
Gilligan Company President Travis Sensabaugh told Columbus Business First that the operator aims to add four or five new units annually over the next five or six years, according to WhatNow Columbus’s summary of that reporting. That cadence, if it held, would make the nine stores named or described this fall only the first phase of a longer expansion, and it explains why three additional Gilligan locations are already in the contract stage even though their addresses have not been announced.
The locations chosen so far trace the region’s growth map. Polaris Parkway serves one of Central Ohio’s largest retail and office corridors, drawing shoppers and commuters from Westerville, Lewis Center and southern Delaware County. East Main Street and Reynoldsburg anchor the east side, Holt Road serves the west side, and Winchester Pike reaches the fast-growing Canal Winchester and southeast Franklin County area — a spread that puts new stores in established neighborhoods and in suburbs that are still adding housing.
The expansion also arrives alongside a wave of other Central Ohio investment that NewsForce247 has covered this week, including Forgent Power’s plan to add 85 jobs in a downtown Columbus hub, NetJets’ 800-job headquarters expansion and CRG’s 911,040-square-foot industrial groundbreaking in Etna Township. Retail openings on this scale typically follow that kind of job and housing growth, because new rooftops and new workplaces create the morning and midday traffic that coffee chains depend on.
No hiring announcement or specific job count for the new Dunkin’ stores has been published in the reporting summarized by WhatNow Columbus, and NewsForce247 is not estimating one. Stores of this type typically hire crew members, shift leaders and managers in the weeks before an opening, so residents near the East Main Street and Polaris sites who are looking for work should watch for postings from the operator as the late-November and December targets approach.
For customers, the practical change is shorter trips and more options on routes that are already part of daily life. A new store near Reynoldsburg serves commuters heading into Columbus on the east side, the Polaris store adds capacity in a corridor where existing coffee shops can be crowded at peak hours, and the later Holt Road and Canal Winchester openings extend the same pattern to the west and southeast in early and mid-2027.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: the store count, the operator, the first four locations and their target windows are confirmed in the Columbus Business First reporting summarized by WhatNow Columbus. Still unknown are the addresses of the three contract-stage stores, any Delaware and Pataskala opening dates beyond the general plan, and whether the late-November East Main Street target holds as construction and hiring finish. Those details are expected from the operator as each opening nears.
The next concrete step is the East Main Street opening targeted for late November, followed by Polaris Parkway in December. NewsForce247 will update this story if the operator confirms exact opening dates, announces the remaining three locations, or revises the 2027 timeline for Holt Road and Canal Winchester.