Krispy Kreme will open its 1,000th store worldwide on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Wyandotte Plaza, 7648 State Ave., in Kansas City, Kan., with free doughnuts for customers.
According to Tim France, local marketing coordinator for Krispy Kreme, the first hundred people in line when the store opens at 6 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, will get free doughnuts for a year.
The very first person in line will get a free dozen of glazed doughnuts a week for a year while the next 99 in line will get a free dozen doughnuts a month for a year, he said. Also, the first 150 people in line will receive a special Kansas City, Kan., Krispy Kreme T-shirt.
Also, there will be one free doughnut to everyone who visits the Wyandotte Plaza store on Tuesday, he said.
The company is pulling out the stops for the store opening at Wyandotte Plaza, at 78th and State, where it has built a new 2,800-square-foot free-standing building that will feature a drive-through window for doughnuts. The building and property are estimated at more than $1 million. Construction started in October for the new building, France said.
The ribbon-cutting at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday for Krispy Kreme will include a visit from company officials. Also on hand will be Miss Kansas USA, Alexis Railsback, he said.
The Schlagle High School band will play selections starting about 10 a.m., he added.
Besides a free doughnut, and watching how doughnuts are made, visitors on Tuesday can have their photos taken for free at a photo booth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, he said.
“This is only the fourth Krispy Kreme in the Kansas City metro, and the first one to open since 1998,” France said. There are two other on Shawnee Mission Park and Merriam in Johnson County. It is also only the fourth Krispy Kreme in the state of Kansas, – another is in Wichita, he added.
The new building will have doughnut theater windows, where visitors may come in and watch the doughnuts being made, he said. School groups may visit to watch, he added.
There is inside seating with tables, and as many as 30 people can be seated, he said.
Wyandotte Plaza, a shopping center with about 200,000 square feet, has been undergoing renovations for the past year through a $28 million RED Legacy project, and includes a new 60,000-square-foot grocery store, a new auto parts store building, as well as renovations to storefronts. A new credit union building is planned there, and storefront renovations will include a new Marshalls and PetSmart.
The regular hours for Krispy Kreme will be 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and 6 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Hot doughnut times will be in the morning and afternoon, with fresh doughnuts every day, he said.
“We make everything here,” he said, including all doughnuts and chocolate.
According to France, Krispy Kreme began operating in 1937. Its headquarters is in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Krispy Kreme also is celebrating the 1,000th store by giving away one free doughnut to the first 1,000 persons at each of its participating shops throughout its system.
To see a previous story about Wyandotte Plaza redevelopment, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/wyandotte-plaza-state-avenue-celebrate-redevelopment/.
