Thought for food

I had to drop by the Lefrak City post office to pick up a package delivered yesterday that wouldn't fit into my mailbox. But instead of having breakfast at the local McDonald's down the block as I often did making this run, I instead went to the Dunkin' Donuts next door. This store just opened up, replacing an Internet parlor that closed last year. This DD across from Lefrak City joins the one outside the subway station next to the Queens Center mall that opened last Fall, the longtime location along the LI Expressway at the edge of Sherwood Village where I live, and another DD that opened a year ago in downtown Corona just North of me. Dunkin Donuts have really been franchising like crazy here in New York City for the past several years...I wonder if they're trying to imitate or compete with the upscale Starbucks which is not in my immediate area save for a couple of stands in each of the neighboring indoor shopping malls. I remember back when I was a little kid forty years ago there being only ONE Dunkin Donuts in all of NYC, that be on Fordham Road in The Bronx. (I wonder if that one is still there after all these years?) That's how I was able to tell as a kid that my mom had been to The Bronx that day, when she brought home a box of a dozen.

At the same time, a new 7 Eleven just opened up across the street from the cable company office where I work in Manhattan. They have had stores in Manhattan before, but they didn't last long, almost quickly becoming Sim's Delis soon after they opened in the early 1980's, while other 7-E's operate in Queens. But I'm glad this place opened up, it will help me maintain timely arrival at work, since they have ready-made sandwiches that you can just grab, pay and go...much faster than even McDonalds.