That’s no longer the case outside the Lower Mainland. Kelowna has at least ten, twelve if you include Westbank. The outlet at UBC Okanagan is consistently lined up outside the door when classes are in session.

Vancouver long ago developed the taste for high-end coffee that Seattle invented (a city where the guys with the portable street carts sell espresso rather than hot dogs) — hence two Starbucks on two corners at Robson and Thurlow. That may have something to do with the lack of Tims: most of my coffee drinking years have been in Van and Seattle, and I can’t drink Tims, because yeah, the coffee is pretty lousy by comparison.

But fruit explosion muffin? Gooood. Apple fritter? Gooooooooood.

Can somebody just explain to me why there needs to be 14 pickup trucks and SUVs with motors running lined up at the drive-thru window when there are three customers inside?

But it isn’t just brand loyalty that makes a culture. It’s little things, psychological things. It is, as has been pointed out, a great equaliser. In any Timmies’ drive-through line-up, you find everything from gleaming Beemers to mud-splattered 1980s pick-ups. It fills a niche: When you need a quick energy shot of caffiene and sugar, you know there’s a Timmies around somewhere. Many of the gas stations have a small Timmies drive-through, with a long line of semis, holiday-drivers and business drivers. But even deeper in the Canadian psyche are the childhood memories. How many of us remember some cherished teacher, babysitter, school bus driver (aunt, uncle, etc…) buying a box of Timmies for everyone to share? It forms part of our foundation memories, it’s founded in hockey (our national religion), and it’s always *there*, just around the corner, offering a nutritious, satisfying lunch, palatable caffiene (in the format of your choice; I loathe coffee but gimme a steeped tea double-double milk please), palatable sugar boost and clean lavatories – Timmies is comforting. The big deal isn’t about the products, but about the way we’ve come to feel about them.

Starbucks and Second Cup are too expensive, Coffee Time and Country Style taste terrible.

Tim’s is a nice middle of the road alternative, that satisfies most and offends no one.

Oh, and for the record, my Central Ontario hometown of 75,000 has, I believe, 13 Timmies.

The problem is Dunky Dunks is so ingrained into people here that they can’t see what is so good about Tim Hortons. Personally I hate Dunkin Doughnuts coffee and food. So most Americans have gotten used to the crap and can’t comprehended the good stuff.

Another important thing to consider is that Tim’s, like all proper doughnut shops, is open 24 hours, which is very important for post gig/bar come downs, when pancake houses are not always easily available due to not being in a fit state to drive yet.

And Krispy Kreme? Those aren’t doughnuts. They are very delicious, but they aren’t doughnuts. They are some sort of moist cake thing in a ring shape

Charlottetown has at least that, I believe; there are four main ones (two of them merged with Wendy’s). The cops have recently been trying to shoe people away from one of them because of all the traffic congestion it causes in the morning.