People Are Still Crazy About KK Donuts (2007-06-11)
Last time we went to Krispy Kreme the throngs of people in line kept us away. It's over six months since they opened and we thought the situation might improve. And we would be so wrong! KL happened to walk past it one Friday (when he was in Shinjuku (
) taking morning pictures) 20 minutes after they opened for
business thinking it'd be
empty and he would have the entire shop to himself.What he saw shocked him. The line already
stretched several loops and all the way to the side of the
building. The signboard in front of the shop said the waiting
time was 2.5 hours! The line's not going to get shorter, it'd be
even longer as the day progressed. What'd the waiting time be at
noon, 3.5 hours?
One reason the line is always so crazy long is because KK lets
customers buy unlimited number of donuts, a policy that only works when
there are more donuts than people. Most customers we see don't
leave the shop with a small bag of donuts, they haul boxes and boxes
out. Elderly people are the worst "offenders" who are likely to
buy half a dozen boxes (or more) each. Who are all the people
they are buying donuts FOR??
So, it's official: Japanese aren't just crazy about KK
donuts. They are crazy. Period.
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