Out with the doughnuts. In with the chickens.
Chick-fil-A is opening at the Block At Orange in spring. That is for certain. Where it will open at the mall is not. A Chick-fil-A spokeswoman wasn’t able to confirm the location.
Rumor has it that Chick-fil-A could take over the mall’s Krispy Kreme store, a prime location for any eatery because of its visibility on City Drive. That would leave Krispy Kreme fans one place in Orange County to get a hot glazed doughnut,Mission Viejo.
Los Angeles-based Great Circle Family Foods, which owns Southern California Krispy Kreme franchises, has about 17 stores, half the number of stores it once had in Southern California.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has been buying up OC’s Krispy Kreme stores, most recently in La Habra. That site is set to open as Chick-fil-A next year.
Chick-fil-A also bought a Krispy Kreme at Lincoln Avenue and the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway in Orange. The Krispy Kreme on Bristol Street in Santa Ana also turned Chick-fil-A.
Kind of disappointing for Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., which put up its first “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign in OC more than five years ago.
Krispy Kreme was expected to give Santa Ana-based Winchell’s Donut House LP a run for its money, and it did. In 2004, Industry-based Yum Yum Donuts bought Winchell’s.
Chick-fil-A has a similarly cultish following but may have more staying power. It opened its first restaurant in 1967 and now has 1,250 eateries in 37 states. Yearly sales are about $1.9 billion. It ranks No. 25 in restaurant chain sales, just behind IHOP Corp.’s International House of Pancakes.
Cult of Sprinkles
Speaking of cult-like: The new Sprinkles cupcakes at Corona Del Mar Plaza had mega lines this weekend with people waiting for the $3.25 cupcakes. I’ve heard they’re really good. But I’ll be waiting for the lines to die down. In the meantime, French’s Cupcake Bakery on 17th Street in Costa Mesa still is one of the finest places in OC to score a cupcake,and you can get two for the price of one Sprinkles’ cupcake.
Allyson in Wonderland
While we’re on the subject of cupcakes, Wonderland Bakery at The Bluffs in Newport Beach is coming up on its one year anniversary in October. The shop is chefed by Allyson Ames, who will be 21 years old in September.
Piglets
Santa Barbara-based This Little Piggy Wears Cotton opened its second OC store at the Irvine Spectrum Center. The first store is at Fashion Island. The store, full of piggy gear, gifts and clothing for kids and babies, is owned by Jennifer Powell and her father Robert Laughlin. There are nine stores altogether.
Market Place Moves
The Market Place in Irvine and Tustin is getting some new restaurants and stores and seeing other changes: Juice it Up and 3 Day Blinds opened near Lowe’s. Starbucks opened near the Edwards 6/Tustin. Lane Bryant, a plus-size women’s clothing store recently remodeled. Old Navy plans to remodel this fall. Coming in the fall: Panda Express, Kirkland’s Home Decor, Garden Patch Farmers Market and Comerica Bank. Bank of America also is expanding by Target.
Caddie Honor
Allen Cadillac GMC in Laguna Niguel earned the top spot for service out of about 1,000 of General Motor Corp.’s Western dealers. Mitch Allen, one of the owners, attributes the ranking in part to employee longevity.
Auto Sales Down
OC auto registrations,a reflection of new car sales,were down 3.5% in July from a year earlier, according to the Costa Mesa-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association’s monthly report. For the year through July, registrations are off 6.4%.
Big vehicles drove the decline. Cars were up 11%. Light trucks (minivans, pickups, sport utility vehicles), were down 16.4%. For the year through July, car sales are off 0.6%. Truck sales are down 12.3%.
Autos with the biggest percent gains in July included: Mazda, which was up 48% to 286 autos; Pontiac, up 50% to 105 autos; and Toyota/Scion, up 14% to 3,828 autos.
Decliners included Volvo, down 38% to 139 autos; Jeep, down 35% to 140 autos; and Cadillac, down 30% to 220 autos. After a spree, Hummer sales finally dipped 33% to 75.
Autos with the biggest percent gains for 2006 through July: Land Rover, Hyundai, Hummer, Porsche, Mercury, Lexus, Audi, Honda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota/Scion. Those with the largest drop in sales, from the bottom up included: Kia, Buick, Jaguar, GMC, Volvo and Chrysler.
On the luxury front,Mercedes-Benz was up 3.4% to 851 autos, followed by Lexus, up 2.2% to 657, and BMW, which slid 19% to 539 autos.
