Business ventures during Winter Break brought another Dunkin’ Donuts close to campus and banned smoking inside High Dive. Gainesville also lost two popular campus-area restaurants.
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s on University Avenue, known by students for its penny wine night, recently closed, as did Kay Bros. BBQ.
But the barbecue restaurant announced its same management team is opening another joint called “The Coop,” which will offer chicken tenders, wings and shakes.
It is set to open Jan. 11 at 1620 W. University Ave. between Larry’s Giant Subs and Sushi Chao.
Near Target Copy, Dunkin’ Donuts will likely soon be rolling in the dough.
The second franchise on University Avenue opened Dec. 28, about a half mile from the existing Midtown Dunkin’ Donuts.
Steve Galloway, the franchise owner, said the new store at 1412 W. University Ave. is a full-service Dunkin’ Donuts and includes Baskin Robbins.
He said he thinks pedestrians will appreciate the second University Avenue location even though it’s near the other store.
“Our experience on campus is that the trade zones are measured in blocks, not miles,” he said. “Convenience is a key factor for how people get around on foot and on bikes.”
He said he also expects the print shop and doughnut shop duo will succeed.
“The fact that Target Copy is there generates a lot of business, so we decided to give it a try.”
Downtown, the concert venue High Dive has a new no-smoking-indoors policy, which became effective Wednesday.
The decision was made mostly by patron request, said promoter Pat Lavery, and many of the bands prefer no smoking indoors, too.
“Over the last year, it’s come up a number of times, and we decided the new year was a good time to start it,” he said.
The decision follows suit with other downtown bars, which only allow outdoor smoking.
At High Dive, patrons can still smoke in the outdoor deck area.
“I think it’s going to be a really positive thing,” he said. “People have been asking for it for a while.”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/6/2014 under the headline "Break brings less smoke, no more penny wine night"
Motion City Soundtrack performed at High Dive in November, along with Relient K and Driver Friendly. High Dive recently prohibited smoking in all areas except the patio on Wednesday.
