Dunkin' Brands opens 15,000th store

Dunkin' Brands, the Canton company that operates the Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins chains, said it is marking the official opening of its 15,000th store today.

The store that brings the company's global count to 15,000 is in Raleigh, N.C., the company said.

"In a nod to both Dunkin' Donuts' and Baskin-Robbins' roots and future, the very first US Dunkin' Donuts store at 543 Southern Artery in Quincy, Mass., will commemorate this occasion by selling coffee and donuts for 15 cents from 3 to 5 p.m.," the company said in a press release "At the same time, the new Baskin-Robbins Café 31 at Patriot Place in Foxborough, Mass. will offer soft-serve ice cream cones for 15 cents from 3 to 5 p.m."

The company is in the midst of an ambitious expansion plan for Dunkin' Donuts, its coffee-and-baked-goods chain. When the company was purchased by new owners in 2006, Dunkin' Donuts had roughly 5,000 stores in the United States. Shortly after the purchase, officials at Dunkin' Donuts said they planned to triple the number of Dunkin' Donuts stores in the US to 15,000 by 2020.

As of today, there are just over 6,300 Dunkin' Donuts stores in the United States and more than 8,800 stores globally, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)