KITTERY, Maine — Sweet tooths, take note: The former Dairy Queen location on the town’s traffic circle could soon have new life.
A new soft serve ice cream business is proposed for the building that housed the popular chain ice cream and fast food restaurant for generations, according to permit applications submitted to the town.
The application for a seasonal, soft serve ice cream venture was filed this month by the Salomon family, owners of the 174 State Road site, though the proposed business would be leased to an operating tenant.
Two permits have been filed — a sign permit and a business change permit.
Dairy Queen, which first opened at 174 State Road at the Kittery, Maine, traffic circle in 1969, is seen vacant Friday, March 7, 2025. A new soft serve ice cream shop may replace it.
The Salomon family declined to comment Thursday, citing the pending permits.
Larry Salomon, the former Dairy Queen franchise owner, has been the property owner for decades.
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“I always enjoyed the business because I enjoyed the people,” Larry Salomon, a seasonal Kittery resident, said in a March interview after announcing Dairy Queen would not reopen. “Over the years in that business, at one point I knew pretty much everyone in that town by face, at least. Quite a few of them became friends. I still miss being there.”
Dairy Queen, a seasonal business, was most recently open in November 2023 before it was closed for all of last year, the end of a 55-year run. The franchise opened at the same spot in Kittery in 1969, the same year the building was constructed, per town property records.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Soft serve ice cream shop to replace Dairy Queen in Kittery?