Auntie Ruth’s opened its second permanent location near the ETSU campus Thursday morning. 

Auntie Ruth’s doughnuts, pretzels and specialty coffee just celebrated its official opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday at 8:45 a.m. The shop offers Auntie Ruth’s popular doughnuts as well as some new menu items. 

Ruth Kauffman, co-owner of Auntie Ruth’s, said, “We have ideas of what we would like to add to the menu in the future; such as, but not limited to, homemade cinnamon rolls, scones etc. However, due to concerns of over-extending ourselves, we will start out with only our usual menu of doughnuts, soft pretzels and drinks till we see we can manage to add more items.”

The company decided to expand and open its second brick-and-mortar shop after the success of first the shop in Limestone. While the shop in Limestone is more of a walkup setup, the new shop offers sitting spaces for customers to relax and enjoy. 

“We love the idea of having a place where people can come inside, sit down and relax with a cup of coffee, or just come have a chat. This is what we like about our new location in Johnson City,” Kauffman said.

Exterior of Auntie Ruth’s Johnson City location. (Contributed/Auntie Ruth’s)

The new store’s location was much anticipated by customers as the construction took longer than expected. Auntie Ruth’s was originally planned to open in June but experienced a few setbacks. 

“We used to say, end of June and we’d say end of July. Then we say the end of August. And finally, we said now it’s real,” said Kauffman. 

Customers are invited in to enjoy Auntie Ruth’s original and new items in a new, welcoming setting. The new shop at 612 Lyle St. can be enjoyed Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

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