when did tim hortons open in the us
Tim Hortons Initially, the US stores were the result of natural expansion in Canadaâ€“U.S. 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.[86] In 1985, the chain returned to the US with a location on Niagara Falls Boulevard in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst, New York.[87] 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.[88] 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,[89] and in the markets entered through acquisition.