East Valley doughnut lovers will have to drive to east Mesa to get their Krispy Kreme fix: The Chandler store at 4200 S. Arizona Avenue was closed on Monday. By Wednesday it had been stripped bare.
The Mesa factory store at 6626 E. Superstition Springs Blvd. is expected to remain open. An employee at that location said the store at 2747 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix would be closing by the end of the week.
A statement from Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation Wednesday evening said the Arizona franchise is in the process of changing hands.
“As a result of this change in market ownership, several locations have closed in the market, including the Chandler location,” said Brian Little, director of corporate communications for Krispy Kreme, in an email to the Tribune. He said he had no information on whether the new franchise owner would reopen the Chandler store.
“I am told that the new franchisee for the market is very excited about taking over in Arizona and committed to the loyal Krispy Kreme fans we have there,” he said.
Little said other closings included stores at 620 E. Roosevelt St. and 12629 N. Paradise Village Parkway in Phoenix and 3170 W. Carefree Highway in the Anthem area of Phoenix.
The franchise has been owned by “Doughnut” Dan Brinton, who ran a Krispy Kreme chain in Texas that folded in the middle of the last decade before buying the Mesa store directly from Krispy Kreme in 2008. That store had been closed previously in 2006.
Reached Wednesday evening after multiple attempts over two days, Brinton referred all questions about the transition back to the Krispy Kreme corporate office in North Carolina.
Little said Brinton "has decided to focus on other business interests." He owns a Scottsdale restaurant, Beauregard Food Co., that's adjacent to the DC Ranch Krispy Kreme location.
Brinton also owned several Krispy Kreme stores in Tucson, but The Arizona Daily Star reported in late June that the two remaining locations there had closed.
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gonetothedogs posted at 8:10 am on Thu, Aug 4, 2011.
I didn't realize they had a Chandler location. These are horrible excuses for doughnuts. QuikTrip has great doughnuts as does Bosa Doughnuts on the NW corner of Ray and Arizona Avenue.
shrinkingviolet posted at 12:56 am on Sun, Aug 7, 2011.
Didn't QTs at one time serve KK donuts?
Alfonso775 posted at 1:41 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
The Krispy Kreme store in Chandler was too far away from us to bother with anyway, especially when Bosa Donuts is nearby, and hard to beat!
And I think QT did have Krispy Kreme Donuts at one time a few Years ago.