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New Starbucks Store in Boone To Open in August

The plan is for Starbucks to be open in August. Photos by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

If everything goes as planned, the Starbucks store on Blowing Rock Road should be opening in August.

Boone Planning & Inspections issued a building permit for the project on March 2. Dolphyn Commercial Contracting is the project’s contractor. The company is based out of Suwanee, Ga., and builds Starbucks stores across the Southeast.

“We actually just began a couple weeks ago on some of the demolition and erosion control and getting the site together,” said Allen Dolphyn, owner of Dolphyn Commercial Contracting.

Dolphyn added that construction should be complete toward the end of July, which would give the company time to train employees for about a week before opening around Aug. 4.

The building is approximately 2,350 square feet in size and features a drive-through. Dolphyn noted that the building will incorporate some of the mountain-style architecture that is prevalent in the High Country, such as timber frames in the open ceilings.

The coffee house will be located on the site where High Country Host operated since the ‘80s on Blowing Rock Road. While the visitor’s center was operating in the building, the N.C. Department of Transportation owned the property.

Whenever the old Kmart property was sold to make way for a Publix Super Markets, developers also started to sniff around the High Country Host building. The NCDOT agreed to put the 1.17-acre property to bid, and Nash Three LLC submitted the highest bid of about $1.34 million.

The coffee house will be located on the site where High Country Host operated since the ‘80s on Blowing Rock Road.