Franklin Domino’s will open Monday

The pieces of the pie are in place for the new Domino’s Pizza in Franklin to hold its grand opening Monday.

Located at the former Four Star Pizza site at 902 Liberty St., just across the intersection from Little Caesar’s, the new Domino’s will hold a soft opening for first responders and some community members on Sunday before the grand opening for the general public.

Both pickup and delivery services will be offered at the new location.

Store owner and Domino’s franchisee Khurram Ali of Pittsburgh, who also owns the Oil City Domino’s that opened in December, said Friday the Franklin location for the popular pizza chain has already hired 20 local people, with more applications coming in.

“We’re super-excited,” he said. “If we have any kind of the turnout that Oil City had that would be great. “Oil City had the record grand opening on the East Coast. We’re trying to have Franklin do the same.”

Ali added that the community has been “optimistic, excited and super-nice,” and that it has been a very good experience working with both the city of Franklin and with building owner Kris Miller.

“They’ve made it very seamless,” he said.

Four Star closed its Franklin location near the end of last year, and Ali, who had been considering putting a Domino’s in Franklin, said he secured the building in January.

“Our construction crew worked to turn around the store pretty rapidly so they could move in,” Miller said of building renovations that have been ongoing in past weeks, some completed by his company, Kris Miller Construction, and some by Domino’s construction crews.

Miller, who owns the building along with his wife Candy and their three children, said it has housed restaurants for years, and a general store was originally located at the site in the 1800s that served trade from the Allegheny River and French Creek.