Two new pizza shops coming and one established business relocating from mall

LANCASTER - The city should have to new pizza shops this month and another long-time business is moving to a new location.

MOD Pizza is set to open at 1850 N. Memorial Drive and King's Grand Central will replace Tiberio's at the gas station at 2610 N. Columbus St.

Grand Central started in Junction City in 1995 and there are also locations in Rushville, Crooksville and now Lancaster.

Audra and Troy King have licensing agreements with Par Mar to run the Junction City, Crooksville and Lancaster locations. They are the sole owners of the Rushville spot, though.

"We have pizza, obviously, and we have specialty pizzas," Audra King said. "We cut all of our vegetables fresh ourselves. Things don't come in frozen. We have two sauces. We have our original sauce, which we've had since 1995. And when we opened Rushville we created a sweet sauce and that his given us a whole other customer base."

The new city location will also feature calzones, subs and salads and more, along with having a drive-thru window.

"One of our slogans is 'Changing your mind about gas station pizza,'" Audra King said.

Audra King said she and her husband plan to open satellite locations in Chillicothe, Marietta and possibly Athens.

"It's an exciting opportunity," Audra King said. "We prayed a lot and worked hard and now it's kind of like living out our dream."

For those looking for employment at Grand Central, visit parmarstores.com and select store No. 169 to apply and choose the food service associate position.

MOD Pizza is set to open a city store by the end of the month.

"We offer artisan-style pizza and salads," MOD public relations director Charlotte Wayte said. "They're all made on demand. They're individual pizzas and salads and they're made specifically for you. We have a menu of classics and you can add or take away anything from those. Or you can create your own pizza from scratch. The price is always the same regardless of the number of items."

Wayte said customers have more than 40 items to choose from.

Scott and Ally Svenson founded the company in Seattle in 2008. There are more than 500 stores across 29 states and Canada.

In non-food news, Dunkin's Diamonds plans to leave its River Valley Mall location probably after the first of next year and open a new store in the former Pier 1 store at 2015 Schorrway Drive.

General manager Keith Diltz said owner Stuart Dunkin has always wanted to have a free-standing store.

"Nothing really to do with the mall or anything like that," Diltz said. "He's contemplated keeping both stores. But I don't think that's going to happen. It still could happen. But I think most likely we're going to probably shut this one (mall) down."

Dunkin's Diamonds has been in the River Valley Mall since 1989. Diltz said the new location will be larger and provide for more visibility since it will be near the busy Memorial Drive. Dunkin's will also rent out part of the building to Heartland Dental, a national dental chain.

jbarron@gannet.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron