<P> Initially , the US stores were the result of natural expansion in Canada -- US border areas ( e.g. , stores in Maine and the Buffalo , New York area where Horton played from 1972 to 1974 as a member of the Buffalo Sabres ) . The first United States locations were opened in Deerfield Beach , Florida and Pompano Beach , Florida in 1981 , but they proved unsuccessful and were closed . In 1985 , the chain returned to the US with a location on Niagara Falls Boulevard in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst , New York . Starting in the mid-1990s , however , the chain began expanding in the US by acquiring former locations from fast food chains . In 1996 and 1997 , thirty - seven former Rax Restaurants locations in Ohio , Kentucky , and West Virginia were bought by Wendy 's International Inc. ; 30 of these were converted to Tim Hortons , while the others became Wendy 's franchise locations . Thirty - five closed Hardee 's stores in the Detroit area were also purchased with the intention of being converted . By 2004 , the chain had also acquired 42 Bess Eaton coffee and doughnut restaurants situated in southern New England . Several combination Wendy 's / Tim Hortons units were opened in the US ; both in the `` traditional '' markets of Maine and Buffalo , where there were well over 180 locations as of 2011 , and in the markets entered through acquisition . </P>
when did tim hortons open in the usa
1981