Are they still open? I thought they went bankrupt a few years ago - they closed both stores I knew of in Boston.

Can someone explain how this is different from any other day you walk in and get a free doughnut?

Does this mean we get TWO today?

The closest KK to me closed down a year ago and is now turning into a Starbucks. Yay! Now I don't have to drive the extra 1/4 mile to the other Starbucks!

How nice, except nearly all of the krispy kremes that are in my area closed down.

Same here in Buffalo, NY.

When that place first opened up, people would line up 24 hours a day for donuts.

Then the frenzy dropped off, and all of them closed up shop.

I think its thanks to the rapid Tim Hortons growth in this area.

There is now a hortons on every block.

Woohoo! Still goin' strong in Tennessee - free donut time!

hmmm donuts =)...

i think they closed most of their shops in new england because of competition from dunkin donuts. they're still going strong in other parts of the country, though.

Haven't you guys ever heard of the Dunkin Donuts/Krispy Kreme line? Located somewhere around the Mason Dixon, it is not hard and fast rule but, in general, Krispy Kreme's are much more common and successful below the line, and Dunkin Donuts above it.

In fact, the only place I've seen a Dunkin Donuts in the South is the Atlanta area.

Going strong where? From reading the Wikipedia article, which I know isn't the final say but it usually paints a pretty accurate picture of most companies, it sounds like the vast majority of stores have closed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme

Oh, and I should add after reading the article I couldn't believe each donut has at least 4 grams of trans fat and at least 3 grams of saturated fat. I know donuts are bad for you but that is just crazy.

The one in Pittsburgh closed, too. :-(

There was a buzz when it first began, but when they opened the doors, everyone suddenly went on a low carb diet. But they DID stay open long enough to drive the nearby dunkin doughnuts out of business.

Ah well, they just opened a Chik-Fil-A in the old spot, so I guess we got something good out of it.

@SOhp101:
Going strong in NC, where they started. In the school system I went to high school in ( the one in the same city KK started) the only approved in-school fundraiser was Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Every day friends were hitting you up with the boxes. It was 25 cents for plain and 50 for chocolate glaze. Really good marketing plan when you think about it, when I was in highschool I could eat 3 a day and not gain a pound. Low carb diets didn't hit very hard there.

@MercuryPDX: You usually can only get free KK donuts when the hot light is on (early mornings and late evenings). Today you can get them anytime, though you'll probably wanna wait until the light is on anyway because that's when they're best.

Unfortunately, The Fractured Prune has spoiled me beyond KK--hand-made, custom-designed donuts at about twice the price of DD or KK. You pick the glaze, sugar, and toppings. And they're soooo freaking good.

I remember a big hyperinflation of the stock price followed by a massive nose dive that may have triggered a few closings.

Either way, Katrina wiped out anything closer than halfway across the world. It's a shame, I used to pass by on the way to work, just in time for the sign to light up. They knew me by name. (insert Cheer's theme song here)

@kweee: I'll second the Fractured Prune recommendation (although they aren't available in a lot of spots). I just had my first one last weekend and couldn't believe how tasty they were. Krispy Kreme donuts are good (especially when they are hot and melt in your mouth), but the Prune blows them away.

This image appropriately describes Krispy Kreme donuts.

Dunkin Donuts is far superior to Krispy Kreme.

@dohtem: That made me laugh so hard I almost threw up.

The franchise outlets were cheating on the whole "hot donuts" thing. They would take pre-fried donuts and just ice them with the hot frosting...if you want to live large, (literally!) you have to go to a KK factory where they fry the donuts for the bulk packaging for supermarkets and the like. Eating a donut that isn't 30 seconds old is a pleasure unlike any other on this earth...literally like eating a soft yummy pillow. In South Florida, they are at 163rd St and NE 6th Ave, North Miami.... Worth a journey from anywhere.

Um, my coworkers and I went to the KK in Naperville, IL and they didn't know what we were talking about. They had never heard of free donut day. But the guy gave each of us a free donut anyway.

And I bought a big box of donut holes as a thank you for the freebies. Heh.

We used to have a KK over here, but they lied about their market value, and their business hype died down after the grand-opening, so the huge store that was opened, which is like a factory, never prospered.
KK Originally came over from Europe, and sources say the European store-owners decided to take it upon themselves to open stores in the US, rather than branch-out as a franchise, which would allow US citizens to own stores. Donno if that has changes since their true-market-value was revealed.

I used to hate doughnuts until I had a Krispy Kreme when they finally came to my tiny sliver of the Midwest. Yum! Unfortunately, the nearest one is still 45 minutes away so no free doughnuts for me.

I will drive past the places that serve their fast food salads and go straight to the Krispy Kreme with their "Hot Now" doughnuts. Mmmm. Thanks for the heads up!

Mmmmm, Krispy Kreme! Nothing gets my mouth watering like a soft, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth donut treat.

Krispy Kreme just had poor management and company structure which is why many were closed. Their worse enemy was internal.

@nerodiavolo: Huh? KK didn't come from Europe- they started in Winston-Salem, NC.

Bankrupt in all of Arizona. Makes me want to cry, that was the only place I'd go to when it was the middle of the night and I had the munchies...

Hah! KK. How 2000 of you. Nowadays the breakfast of choice for the nutritionally unconscious is a Sprinkles cupcake. Red Velvet is to die for. It even makes a great wedding cake replacement. Cupcakes for all!

As for Krispy Kreme, I overdosed on em back in high school. They were sold in the cafeteria, and when I went to college they had a shop in the food court.
They went a little overboard flooding the local doughnut market.