Three teenage boys sat in the corner booth, sipping brightly-colored drinks and chatting as the McDonald’s drive-thru line outside gained momentum.
Gavin Holler, Konner Thorpe and Parker Labelle, all of Pembroke, had biked by the new store three times every day for the past week. When it opened on Wednesday morning, they were determined to be the first customers inside.
“[It’s] a new spot to get food,” said Labelle. “There’s like no places in town.”
His friends agreed: “Subway got old,” they each said.
The trio previously trekked to McDonald’s in Concord to order fries, burgers and nuggets.
Now that they have a location practically in their backyards, only a five-minute bike ride from home, they anticipate coming nearly daily. They dropped their bikes in a parking space and dashed to the front door to get there ahead of any other customers.
The store has been in the works since 2023, when the land under Aubuchon Hardware’s original location was sold, leaving the future of that store up in the air. But then Rite Aid closed in 2025 and the hardware shop moved into that vacant building down the street. McDonald’s solidified its plans to build on the lot.
Mike Frascinella, chair of the Allenstown Economic Development Committee, was initially “very concerned” about the potential of a McDonald’s.
“I’ve been here for decades, and to me, Aubuchon was a historic site and was the only hardware store for miles around,” he said. But the store’s new home alleviated his concerns and helped him embrace McDonald’s coming to the community.
Still, others, he said, remain on the fence.
“What I call the ‘swamp creatures’ on Facebook were recently criticizing the McDonald’s site as another example of big corporate America invading our little town. To me, those people were totally ignorant of the whole process. We have no control over what somebody does with their property,” Frascinella said.
A town only has the ability to make sure a developer or property owner abides by the planning and zoning regulations, he said.
Plus, Frascinella thinks the fast food chain will add to the town’s economic base. Bear Brook State Park’s square footage takes up a large portion of Allenstown, limiting the town’s potential for its commercial tax base. This comes up frequently at town meetings when residents discuss how to grow commercial revenue.
McDonald’s, despite being an international chain, still contributes to the local economy.
“Being sited at the intersection of Route 3 and 28 is the next kind of location for commuters,” Frascinella said.
The new store has already hired 45 employees, with around 70% of them coming from local towns, according to Debbie Hynes, who has lived in Allenstown for eight years and supervises numerous franchise locations across the state.
“This was my first job,” said Hynds, who has been with McDonald’s for 25 years. “To be able to have some place that’s walking distance for a lot of the kids in our community is going to help them develop, especially since we open at the beginning of summer, teaching responsibility, staying out of trouble.”
In her time with the company, she’s seen early morning breakfast crews hole up in different stores. She looks forward to watching that sense of community take root in the Allenstown location, too.
“It’s just a small town. There’s not a lot of places for people to gather and hang out,” she said. “Everything downtown closes at 3 p.m. or is only open on certain days. I think for as much as people in the community were complaining that McDonald’s is coming in, I think what we’re really missing is that piece for people to come and spend their morning.”
Logan Woodside and Sylvain Dorais, both of Pembroke, sat together eating breakfast sandwiches. They said they’d been driving by every day waiting for it to open.
While they’re happy to have a McDonald’s closer, especially as a quick pre-work stop, they acknowledged that the food isn’t the healthiest.
“I try not to eat it too often,” Dorais said, “because you don’t feel the greatest after. But it’s nice for an emergency or when you’re in a hurry.”
The store is holding a grand opening on Sept. 18, with a series of prizes and special promotions.
Owner Michael Gambino, who has nearly two dozen franchise locations across the Granite State and partially into Massachusetts, said he looks forward to the store being able to participate in town endeavors.
“We really want to get to know all of our employees, all of our customers and all of the people in the community, and get involved with the people in the community in terms of any nonprofits, schools, any sporting events, youth programs. We really like to give back to the communities that we’re doing business in,” he said.
Beyond McDonald’s, Frascinella said there’s still room for more economic development in the area. A mixed-use development will be coming to the former Plourde Sand & Gravel site, he said.
“That would be a major win for the town. So they’re busy trying to interest various businesses to invest in that development,” he said.
