19-02-2025
Tim Hortons makes surprise Mt. Juliet opening ahead of planned Middle Tennessee locations
A local business owner has opened a new Tim Hortons coffeehouse and bakery in a Mt. Juliet convenience market ahead of six more freestanding locations planned for Middle Tennessee.
Naren Patel opened the new Tim Hortons inside the Golden Bear Shell @ Jackson Hills market on Golden Bear Gateway. It's the first Tim Hortons franchise open in Tennessee, according to Patel.
And customers flocked to the market next to the entrance of the Jackson Hills neighborhood as word circulated on social media that the Canadian-based business, also a staple in certain portions of the U.S., was open Tuesday.
"I always like it when I go home," said Brett Carlsen, 38, of Nashville. He drove 35 minutes Tuesday to the Mt. Juliet Tim Hortons. "When I saw it was open yesterday on Instagram, I had to come out and get one. I'm excited. I hope one gets a little closer to town, but until then, this is a lot closer than Buffalo."
Patel intended to have a "soft" opening of the Tim Hortons space inside the market on Monday so the employees could be trained, but word took off on social media. Patel estimated the store saw 500 customers on Monday and expected that number to climb to between 700-800 on Tuesday.
The idea to open inside the market was launched around November and renovating the space took around 30 days.
"One of our Tim Hortons crew members came by to us and they said, 'why don't we just open here,'" Patel said. "We said 'yeah.' It just came up, unplanned."
Krunal Patel will manage the Tim Hortons locations. The six other freestanding locations still to open are:
1459 West Main Street, Lebanon
1500 Franklin Road, Lebanon
10576 Lebanon Road, Mt. Juliet
5120 Beckwith Road, Mt. Juliet
2527 Lebanon Pike, Donelson.
Naren Patel hopes the Donelson location, planned in a former Krystal building, will open this spring. He is also finalizing plans to open Tim Hortons locations in Murfreesboro and Smyrna.
Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@ and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tim Hortons coffee launches early in Middle Tennessee: How to get some
