The Donut Shoppe will mark its 50th year in business as an Arlington institution with a move and an expansion.
Owner David Unkelbach hadn’t master-planned the move, but he said he lost his lease at 1711 University Blvd. N. next to the Gate store. He said the Gate gas and convenience store will be demolished and rebuilt as a larger store.
Forced to move, Unkelbach has leased a site just a block and a half south along University Boulevard, giving him three times the space of his existing store. That means two customer entrances, two doughnut cases and two cash registers instead of one each.
It also means more varieties of doughnuts and coffee – and more parking. He said there are 13 parking spaces in front and plenty more in the back. “It’ll help us a lot,” he said. Unkelbach expects the new store, which is a $100,000 investment, to open in mid- to late May, soon after The Donut Shoppe’s official 50th anniversary in April.
Other than more doughnut and coffee varieties, Unkelbach said the business operations remain the same.
“We’re going to leave it take-out,” he said, and the hours remain 5 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. It also remains cash-only.
The crew of five full-time and two part-time employees might increase by one if needed, he said.
Unkelbach, who turns 61 next week, and a friend had worked at the shop as teenagers and kept circling back to it since. The friend retired from the Merchant Marine and bought the business in 1978.
Unkelbach maintained a full-time job for 27 years as an estimator for an electrical company but also worked part-time at the shop. He bought the business in 2001 and owns it with his wife, Mary Kay, and son, Dane.
The Donut Shoppe opened in 1962 nearby, also next to a convenience store, and moved next to Gate about 21 years ago.
The Donut Shoppe has been making up to 18 varieties of doughnuts daily, producing 250 to 350 dozen a day including apple fritters and eclairs.
New varieties will include apple-filled cinnamon and strawberry cake doughnuts and seasonal pumpkin doughnuts.
Unkelbach said the new lease at 1535 University Blvd. N., is for 10 years.
356-2466