With the dark forces of Dunkin' Donuts on the march across Manhattan, another purveyor of donut and coffee goodness, Krispy Kreme, is beating a retreat from its original NYC outpost on West 23rd Street in Chelsea. Beset with financial problems stemming from overexpansion, following its brief but glorious run as the darling of Wall Street, Krispy Kreme now operates just two of its own stores in Manhattan (at Penn Station and on the Upper East Side). All that remains on W23rd is the sad sign seen here, photographed by BlogChelsea. A moment of silence, please.
· Krispy Kreme Klosed [BlogChelsea]
· New Store Openings [Krispy Kreme]
· East Village Getting Fatter By the Second [Curbed]
UPDATE: This time it's personal! A Curbed reader emails, "I work in Rockefeller Center, and am a frequent visitor to the Rockfeller Concourse. Recently, a Dunkin Donuts opened, right where everyone gets out of the subway at the Concourse. The store is next to a Krispy Kreme, which went out of business last week, it seems. It's really no competition -- the DD's coffee and bagels totally steamrolled poor Krispy Kreme's donut last stand. It's like DD came into that spot almost to spite KK and to push them out -- they were literally right next door to each other."