Shipley Do-Nuts has closed its original store in Georgia. Metro Atlanta's first franchise opened March 20, 2023 at 3225 Keith Bridge Road in Cumming in Forsyth County and closed as of January 11.
Signage at the donut shop indicates that in an effort to "finish off their inventory," they were offering 15% off purchases.
Our prior coverage of the brand's entry into the Atlanta market was incredibly popular across multiple social media channels including dozens of comments and shares on LinkedIn, more than a hundred comments on the website and thousands of shares, likes and comments on our Facebook page. That said, the excitement seems not to have carried over into people's willingness to drive to what became the only location in metro Atlanta, in Cumming.
The Texas-based donut shop had a decent 4.4 star rating on Google, but only 192 reviews. The new Rreal Tacos, which opened in December in Duluth, by comparison, has already amassed more than 750 reviews and an overall rating of 4.9 stars on Google.
The 1,510-square-foot Cumming shop featured a drive-thru, online ordering, and delivery service, and was locally owned and operated by Oziel “Ozzie” Rodriguez and his wife Brenda, who also own Coal Mountain Package Store and Palapas Bar and Grill, also in Forsyth County.
"Founded in 1936 in Houston, Shipley Do-Nuts is beloved throughout the South for its more than 60 varieties of fresh, hot do-nuts, as well as kolaches (savory breakfast rolls filled with meat, typically sausage), hot coffee and cold brew. Its signature glazed do-nuts, famous for their unique hexagon shape that creates a lighter, fluffier texture and a glaze that provides just the right amount of sweetness, are by far the brand’s bestseller."
"We’ve had Georgia on our mind for quite some time at Shipley, and opening our first location in the state is an important milestone for us,” said then Shipley CEO Clifton Rutledge at the time of the opening.
As opposed to Dunkin', where doughnuts are made at a centralized "baking facility" and trucked in the night before, Shipley do-nuts are reportedly made fresh in-store each day. This alone should have helped distinguish them from their competitors like Dunkin’, which in the case of Cumming, operates an existing outpost a stone's throw away.
ToNeTo Atlanta first reported on Shipley's planned Atlanta area arrival in April 2022 at which point the first area location was to have opened during the fall of 2022 on Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth. This location - 4165 Pleasant Hill Road in a former Taco Bell/Pizza Hut - was first delayed several months but was later abandoned entirely. The Duluth location was to be opened by Dallas, Texas-based ARFD Foods, LLC, operated by Andrew Robertson and Franklin Diaz, who signed an agreement to open up to 25 Shipley Do-Nuts locations in Georgia. The group never opened any units.
For his part, Rodriguez, operating as Sweet Donuts Investments Inc., planned to open a total of five Shipley Do-Nuts locations in the greater Atlanta area, but those plans seem to have been called off as well.
Shipley Do-Nuts on December 17 opened a location in Albany as part of a two-store development deal. Randy and Danielle Morrow are the franchisees of the Albany area locations. The new location opened at 2723 Dawson Road in an outparcel of an existing Target store.
Have you ever been to Shipley Do-Nuts? Which Texas impost are you more excited about: Whataburger or Shipley Do-Nuts? Why do you think Shipley Do-Nuts failed in Cumming?
Please share your thoughts below.
4 comments:
Folks might take saying Dunkin "operates an existing outpost a stone's throw away" as merely an idiom, but they are literally only 50 yards away in the next building! What a terrible choice of location this was.
Note that Dunkin killed off "Donut Connection," a long-time family shop that had been in the very same building Shipley was in.
Terrible location (bad bad parking) for slightly above average doughnuts. 6.769 out of 10 ... Maybe try a better location like in Marietta with better parking.
I’ve never been to a Shipley’s. I do think, perhaps, they needed a better location
I tried them once since I live locally. They were fine but it wasn't anything spectacular. They also have zero inside seating so everything is to go. Also getting out of the restaurant onto 369 Is painful and dangerous and not worth the stop during heavy traffic in the morning.
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