Dunkin’ Donuts is entering the prime East Memphis trade area with the sixth store in the Memphis area.

Franchisee Akshar Mendenhall Inc., doing business as Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins, has signed a 2,700-square-foot lease at 5150 Poplar Ave. on the northwest corner of Poplar and Brookhaven Circle East. This will be his fifth store.

There is one other store that is owned by a different franchisee in Southaven.

The Canton, Mass.-based international doughnut and coffee retailer will take over the space that formerly housed a KFC.

Construction will begin in January on the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins combo store, with a spring opening.

Shawn Massey, partner with The Shopping Center Group LLC, represented the tenant. John Snyder, broker with Investec Realty Services, represented the landlord, Eleanora M. Waddell Trust.

Dunkin’ entered the market in 2008 at 1674 Whitten Road. The opening came after the chain announced it was in the midst of an expansion “to increase its franchise locations in the U.S., including the plan to open more than 50 new restaurants in the Memphis area,” as The Daily News reported in March 2008. Stores that followed included a Germantown location at 9077 Poplar, and a Midtown location at 1540 Union Ave.

Massey, Dunkin’s Memphis-area tenant rep, said the franchisee has sought an East Memphis store since he purchased the market more than three years ago.

“East Memphis is probably the hardest trade area for any retailer to penetrate due to lack of available properties and the higher expense of securing a site,” Massey said. “This is especially true to restaurants that need a drive through capability such as Dunkin’ Donuts.”

The franchisee had put offers in on multiple opportunities that for various reasons did not work out in the past, Massey said.

“We had worked with John Snyder at Investec on another location and when this prime site became available he made sure we were aware of it,” Massey said. “There were multiple restaurant concepts that had expressed an interest in the site and had submitted offers we were told by Snyder and we worked quickly with the landlord’s representative to finalize the deal that worked for all parties.”

The architect for the store is Douglas A. Leininger of Germantown-based Leininger McCullough architecture. The general contractor is DBR Development LLC.

Both firms are also assigned to Dunkin’s recent venture at 8984 U.S. 64 in Lakeland, where an 1,800-square-foot freestanding build-to-suit store is currently under construction and slated to open by year’s end.

Dunkin’ and its Memphis franchisee are committed to opening more stores in the Memphis area, Massey said, and “are continuing to seek prime opportunities for expansion.”