Courtesy: Domino's

Big news on the date night front in the Lawhorn household: No longer when I take my beautiful bride out for a fancy dinner at Domino’s will I have to put the candelabrum on the dash. Plans have been filed for Domino’s to open a new sit-down restaurant along 23rd Street.

Plans have been filed at City Hall for Domino’s to renovate a portion of the former GTM Sportswear building at 1008 W. 23rd St. This will be the second location for Domino’s in Lawrence. The other one is near Ninth and Iowa streets, and the architects for the project — Lawrence-based Paul Werner Architects — said plans call for the existing store to remain open once the 23rd Street store is completed.

The bigger news, though, is the new location will be part of Domino’s new concept for stores. Traditionally, the company has been primarily a delivery or carry-out business. Leticia Cole with Paul Werner Architects said the new design will change that.

“They will still do delivery and carry-out, but customers can come in to order their pizza (and other food,) watch it being made at the window, and sit down to eat,” Cole said in an email.

Talking with my friend Mr. Google, it seems that has been a big trend for Domino’s. I found this article from a business journal in Ohio about how Domino’s has committed to using a design called “pizza theater” for all its new stores and future remodels. (This is fantastic. Now I won’t have to spring for a movie ticket on date night.) The idea behind the phrase, according to the article, is that the design features an open kitchen that allows customers to watch their pizzas being made, complete with the hand tossing of the crust.

The article says there is even a special window and step for kids to look in on the action. (This is where my wife, who is a nearly a half-foot taller than I am, would give me permission to use the step too.) The article says there is a chalkboard area for customers to doodle on as well, plus there’s some type of video display that allows customers to track the progress of their pizza production.

Now, I don’t know whether the Lawrence store will have all those features, but it sounds like it will be a new look for Lawrence nonetheless.

As for the food, Domino’s has dropped pizza from its name because it is expanding into other menu items. That includes several hot sandwiches, pastas and chicken wings. The company has said some of its new stores also will feature a “grab and go” section that will have milk, cookies, salads, mini dessert parfaits and other such items.

The Lawrence project has most of the approvals it needs to move forward. Planners must approve a new site plan for the property before the renovations can begin, but I would expect work to start in the next several weeks.

Plans call for the Domino’s store to take only a portion of the building. There also will be two office spaces in the building. The owner of the local Domino’s franchise will take one of the office spaces, Cole said. The other space doesn’t yet have a tenant, Cole said.

In other news and notes from around town:

• I’ve had some readers ask me whether they should be worried about the future of The Gap store in downtown Lawrence. There are two things going on with that company that have created some concern. One is that the retailer announced in June that it will close 175 North American stores this year. The second thing is that the Lawrence store currently has a big sign in its window advertising 50 percent off many items in the store, with a tag line of “it is now or never.”

But I stopped by the store this morning and asked an employee if that sign was an indication that the store was on the chopping block. I was told that wasn’t the case. Instead it is just the promotional tag line they are using for their summer sale. Gap has not officially released a list of pending store closings, and the folks at the Lawrence store didn’t have any information about that either.

So, should you be worried about the future of The Gap in Lawrence? I don’t know. My banker has told me many times to worry about what The Gap store is doing to my balance sheet, but that’s a different type of worry. We’ll just have to wait and see when that store closing list comes out, but in the meantime, don’t read too much into the signs on the window.