Tim Horton's brings a mild brand to the wild Big Apple

First it was Canadian bacon. Then came Celine Dion. Then it was Jim Carrey and Pamela Anderson. And Canada's invasion of the U.S. has reached full tilt with coffee and doughnuts. Tim Hortons Inc. (THI), unsatisfied with holding 70 percent of the Canadian coffee market, has now breached New York.

Fourteen percent of Tim Hortons stores are south of the Canadian border, but this weekend the chain began opening its 12 shops in the Big Apple. Nine opened Monday in Manhattan, including stores on Broadway, in Penn Station and in Times Square. Two stores will open in Brooklyn , and three more will open next month. Judging from the New York Times's five (!) articles in recent days, New Yorkers are excited (or at least New York Times editors, at any rate).