Tim Hortons is leaving southern New England.

[randomness]

From http://middletown.patch.com/articles/middletown-tim-hortons-closes-amidst-widespread-new-england-shutdowns:

The Oakville, Ontario-based company announced Thursday in a press release that it would shut down most New England operations, affecting locations in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Maine remains the lone New England state where the company will continue operating several stores, the company reported.

Tim Hortons attributed the closures to losing a reported $4.4 million this year from the shuttered locations and officials from the Canadian-based company said in varius news reports they plan to focus business in other areas of the United States where stores have been more successful, such as New York, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and other states in the southeast.

http://www.theday.com/article/20101112/BIZ02/311129865/-1/BIZ adds:

Howell said Tim Hortons couldn't compete with Dunkin' Donuts. It was partly a taste issue - Tim Hortons' coffee is very strong, she said, more to the liking of Canadians than New Englanders - and partly a matter of not being able to change people's habits. In addition, she said, the company wouldn't alter any of its strategies to conform to local preferences.

Comments

[spatch]

I admit I'll gladly take a lodge reglah at Dunks over nearly any other coffee from any other place (I believe it is hardwired into the New Englander psyche from birth, much like the crystals implanted in the palms of the babies in Logan's Run) but I really, really, really like Timbits.

So much so that any time someone drove me down to Providence I'd beg 'em to stop at the single Tim Horton's I knew just to get some. I had memorized the route and everything. "C'mon, it's less than 5 minutes out of our way. And the cinnamon ones rule."

Sad to see 'em go. They didn't even make as many foolish expansion decisions as Krispy Kreme did, though refusing to take locality and local tastes into account is a little frown-inducing.

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, well before Tim Horton's went international, my roommates and I would occasionally drive to Windsor (slightly less than an hour, give or take traffic) just to get Timbits. Sometimes at 2 am or thereabouts.

This really, really amuses the border guards when you give it as your reason for crossing.