North Carolina

North Carolina made ‘Hot Now’ famous. Now, it will help light up Times Square.

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp.

Krispy Kreme, North Carolina’s beloved homegrown doughnut chain, is expanding to the Big Apple with six shops set to open by year’s end, company officials said Wednesday.

The chain’s remodeled Penn Station shop is scheduled to open on Thursday, officials said. And a flagship Times Square location will debut in May, featuring the chain’s largest “Hot Now” sign.

The first new Big Apple Krispy Kreme shop plans to open Feb. 4 at 994 6th Ave. Other shops will open throughout the year in the Financial District, Bronx/East Fordham, Harlem and the Upper West Side, company officials said.

Krispy Kreme expects to hire over 400 people with the expansion.

Many of its new-store openings across the country over the decades have drawn large crowds.

In 2018, Krispy Kreme prompted “madness” in the form of long lines, car backups, beeping horns and upset neighbors when it opened a store in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland — the chain’s first in the country, The Charlotte Observer reported at the time.

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp.’s Times Square Big Apple flagship location will debut in May, featuring “the world’s largest Hot Light and hot/fresh doughnuts 24/7” sign, company officials said on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020.
Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp.’s Times Square Big Apple flagship location will debut in May, featuring “the world’s largest Hot Light and hot/fresh doughnuts 24/7” sign, company officials said on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp.
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The company opened a corporate office in Charlotte’s South End last year while maintaining its global headquarters in Winston-Salem, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Founded in 1937, Krispy Kreme has nearly 1,400 retail shops in 33 countries.

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This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 12:35 PM with the headline "North Carolina made ‘Hot Now’ famous. Now, it will help light up Times Square.."

Joe Marusak
The Charlotte Observer
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
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