Dunkin’ will open its seventh donut shop in metro Chattanooga next Tuesday when its franchisee, Bluemont Group, opens another outlet in Ooltewah at 5024 Hunter Road.
The first 100 persons in line when the new Dunkin’ restaurant opens at 5 a.m. on Dec. 4th will be given cards for the winners to get one free medium hot or iced coffee and one classic donut every day for a month until Jan. 4. The grand opening celebration will feature free product samples and photo opportunities with Dunkin’ mascots Cuppy and Sprinkles.
Founded in 1950, Dunkin’ has grown to 12.600 restaurants in 46 countries around the globe. The donut chain has earned a No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for 12 years consecutive years.
NRF predicts strong holiday sales season
The holiday shopping season has gotten off to a “very strong” start, according to the largest U.S. retail trade group.
The National Retail Federation said Tuesday that consumer spending has been strong, fueled by a better economy and stores’ investments in online services including features that allow shoppers to buy online and pick up the items at the store.
The trade group’s assessment comes even after a survey of more than 3,000 shoppers Thanksgiving and Friday forecast that fewer people would turn out for the five-day weekend that ended Monday, compared to a year ago.
This year, there were more than 165 million people who shopped online or in stores from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, based on survey results. Last year, that figure was 174 million. The retail group attributed the drop to stores spreading out their deals beyond the Black Friday weekend.
“This was a very strong holiday weekend,” said Bill Thorne, a spokesman at the trade group.
The group now says it expects sales for November and December will be at the high end of its earlier forecast of a 4.3 to 4.8 percent rise. That would be below last year’s 5.3 percent increase but well above the average annual increase of 3.9 percent of the past five years.
Consumer confidence slips in November
U.S. consumer confidence slipped this month but remains strong.
The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 135.7 in November from October’s 18-year high 137.9.
The index measures consumers’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Their evaluation of today’s economy improved – but their assessment of future conditions slipped in November.
“Overall, consumers are still quite confident that economic growth will continue at a solid pace into early 2019,” says Lynn Franco, a Conference Board economist. “However, if expectations soften further in the coming months, the pace of growth is likely to begin moderating.”
Economists monitor consumer spirits because Americans’ spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. From July through September, consumer spending rose at a 4 percent annual pace, fastest since late 2014.
Rider University blocks Chick-fil-A
Students at a private university in New Jersey can eat more chicken as long as it’s not Chick-fil-A.
Rider University removed the restaurant from a survey asking students what restaurants they would like on campus, “based on the company’s record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ community.” The fast-food chain was included in previous surveys.
Chick-fil-A says it has “no policy of discrimination against any group,” and that its corporate purpose is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.”
Rider says it understands some may view the decision as a “form of exclusion.” But the school says it wanted to be “faithful to our values of inclusion.”