Krispy Kreme demise
leaves hole in Mayfair

The ending was sudden, but not surprising.
Management entered the Krispy Kreme store at 2327 Cottman Ave. at noon on Dec. 26 and told employees to cease operations immediately.
Freedom Rings, the Philadelphia-area franchisee for the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp., closed the store at the Roosevelt Mall a little more than two months after declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The franchisee also closed its three suburban locations — in Langhorne, Montgomeryville and Springfield. In all, 155 employees lost their jobs. A bankruptcy court must approve a severance package for them.
In addition, Krispy Kreme closed three stores in New England.
Remaining open are 400-plus Krispy Kreme stores in 44 states, Australia, Canada, Mexico and South Korea. Also, boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts can be found in local grocery stores.
The company, best known for its hot glazed doughnut, opened its first store in 1937 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
There was a Krispy Kreme store on Route 1 in Trevose, but it closed in 1981. Then, in July 2002, the company made its return to the Philadelphia region when it began selling doughnuts out of a tractor-trailer in the Roosevelt Mall.
By November of that year, Krispy Kreme was operating out of a 4,600-square-foot building on the site. Company officials loved the location, since it was surrounded by densely populated neighborhoods and was located on a busy commercial strip. Customers could watch the doughnuts being made on a conveyor belt.
Krispy Kreme, which went public in April 2000, was doing great overall. Its price shot up to nearly $50 a share on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2003.
However, sales slowed after that, with the company blaming the difficulties on low-carbohydrate diet trends.
Despite last week’s news, company officials insist that Krispy Kreme is in strong shape for future growth. ••