WILMINGTON — A popular quick Mexican-inspired chain restaurant is expanding across the region, with its next stop planned for Monkey Junction.
READ MORE: Oak Island donut shop to open second store in Carolina Beach
Site plans have been submitted to New Hanover County to build a new Chipotle at 5505 Carolina Beach Road. It will be located in the Home Depot shopping center near a Bojangles, Starbucks and Wells Fargo Bank. The Google search of its address notes it has a June 25 opening date; a Chipotle spokesperson confirmed it would open this summer.
With more than 100 locations in North Carolina, Chipotle’s growth locally will mark the third store in Wilmington proper; it currently has locations on Oleander Drive, Military Cutoff Road and Market Street. The latter, located near Marsh Oaks in the Porters Neck area, opened last fall.
“We are always looking for communities where we can serve responsibly sourced, classically-cooked, real food and establish new local partnerships, and the Wilmington area is a great fit,” spokesperson Annie Gradinger wrote in an email. “We’re pleased with the response to our existing locations in southeastern North Carolina, and hope the community enjoys our new Wilmington restaurant.”
The Monkey Junction site plans indicate a 2,300 sqaure-foot building with a 430-square-foot patio will be constructed. Also included is a drive-thru pickup lane for customers to retrieve their digitally placed orders with the added convenience of not exiting their cars.
The fast-concept restaurant is headquartered in Newport Beach, California, and has been lauded for its fresh take on Mexican fare, including burritos, tacos, bowls, and salads, served quickly and inexpensively. Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright told Fortune on April 9 Chipotle would not be raising its prices in light of tariff threats that have many businesses re-evaluating their plans for 2025.
“We have such an extraordinary balance sheet today,” Boatwright told the outlet. “We have very little debt on the balance sheet. We have lots of cash that we can deploy, and we enjoy margins that are largely unprecedented in the industry to begin with. And so, the full tariff impacts that are being presented by the Trump administration would cost me about 60 basis points of margin on the year, which I can absolutely absorb.”
Chipotle stocks slid on Monday, April 7, roughly 2% recently due to tariff threats.
Chipotle anticipates opening upward of 350 restaurants in 2025. It currently has around 3,700 in its portfolio in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, German, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates — though the majority are located in American.
The restaurant chain did not respond as to whether more were headed to the tri-county region. Chipotle opened its first Leland location in 2024 as well.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
