STC Krispy Kreme closes, new user sought for prime retail spot

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ST. CHARLES – The Randall Road corridor has lost a bit of its sweetness.

This week, after seven years of rolling out its hot, glazed treats, the St. Charles Krispy Kreme doughnut shop closed its doors.

The closing ended months of speculation over the fate of the store after Sweet Traditions LLC, the St. Louis-based company that operates all of the Krispy Kreme stores in Illinois, Northwest Indiana and Eastern Missouri, filed for bankruptcy more than a year ago.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the company launched a reorganization of its operations, which the company said included the closure of up to half of its 15 Chicago area Krispy Kreme stores.

Sweet Traditions never formally announced which stores would close. But as recently as this week, the store was listed as available for lease on a commercial real estate Web site.

And earlier this week, customers in St. Charles discovered the doors locked and a note on the door stating that the store, which had opened with much fanfare in 2001, had closed. A representative of Sweet Traditions did return a call seeking comment.

Michael Mertes, economic development coordinator for the city of St. Charles, said no one from either Sweet Traditions or the St. Charles Krispy Kreme store had communicated with the city before locking the doors. Mertes said the city was informed of the closing “through other people.”

He said the city already has begun seeking out potential users for the site. And Mertes said he doubted the site would sit vacant for long, as it is located in a prime location near one of the area’s busiest intersections at Route 38 and Randall Road.

“We’ll find somebody to fill it in,” he said.