Rebuilding After Sandy: Mario Tuna, owner of Dunkin Donuts in Stillwell Terminal, Coney Island. February 22, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
On an average weekday in February, nearly 12,000 people swipe their MetroCards at Coney Island’s Stillwell Terminal, the terminus for the D, F, N and Q lines, but there’s no place to stop and get a cup of coffee since Sandy. Unless you count the food truck at the Stillwell Avenue entrance. Four months after flooding and sewage ravaged the terminal during SuperStorm Sandy, the 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts at Surf and Stillwell remains closed. On Friday we talked with Mario Tuna, the location’s franchisee, who happened to be painting the orange trim when we passed by. “We’re having a grand re-opening around March 15,” he told ATZ. The rehab of the store has been underway since January.
Painting in Progress. February 22, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
The Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins first opened in the reconstructed subway terminal in 2009. Due to extensive storm damage, the restaurant had to be completely renovated from the floor up and will get all new equipment. The cost of repairs is the responsibility of the franchisee, Tuna said. After Sandy, the stores that have managed to reopen in Stillwell Terminal are Subway, which is open 24 hours, and the newsstand. Neither of them sell coffee. The Bank of America’s ATMs have also been replaced.
Seasonal shops such as Lola Star Boutique, Brooklyn Beach Shop and two other gift shops in Stillwell Terminal also suffered damage and remain closed. Coney Island Gourmet Shop/Magic Gyro has not been been touched and essentially looks like it did in the days after the storm. McDonald’s on Stillwell and Mermaid Avenues, which was also open 24 hours, remains boarded up and closed but the majority of stores on Mermaid have reopened.
Dunkin Donuts Renovation: New floors, walls. January 30, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
Related posts on ATZ…
February 13, 2013: Thor’s Coney Island: Candy Retailer It’Sugar to Open Surf Ave Store
February 6, 2013: Cha Cha’s on Surf Avenue in Coney Island “Officially Closed”
December 24, 2012: In Thor’s Coney Island, Discount on Retail Ride of a Lifetime
December 19, 2012: Will Coney Island’s Surf Ave Become a Mecca for Franchises?
Amusing the Zillion 
Who cares? Coney doesn’t need national chains that you can find anywhere in the entire country. Coney needs independent, unique operators. Coney needs someone to make fresh donuts and if no one wants to pursue that, maybe someone can convince either the Donut Plant (Grand St and 23rd St) or Dough (Lafayette Avenue) to open a stand in Coney Island. I’d also love to see Shake Shack open in Coney Island (okay, that’s slowly becoming a chain, but it’s not a franchise.)