There was never a Krispy Kreme on the site of the White Front Breakfast House at 1518 Market Street. Staff Photo By Matt Born WILMINGTON STAR NEWS
Q. Was there ever a Krispy Kreme at the corner of 16th and Market on the site that the White Front Breakfast House occupies now? I know there was one across the street in the shopping center.
A. Not according to New Hanover County tax records.
The White Front Breakfast House, 1518 Market St., was built by the late local restaurateur Jimmy Merritt and his late son Harold, and has operated under that name since it was opened years ago.
At one time, there was a Krispy Kreme store across South 16th Street in the shopping plaza located there.
Before that, it was located on Carolina Beach Road across from Legion Stadium. That store, the first in this area, was opened in 1949 by R.B. Mayhew.
The only present Wilmington Krispy Kreme location is at 2822 S. College Road, although the doughnuts are sold in some supermarkets and other businesses around town.
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Date posted: June 10, 2012
User-contributed question by:
Frank Baltezegar
Krispy Kreme was on the opposite corner in that shopping center.
The Krispy Kreme store was located in the white building that now houses the Domino’s Pizza store now. My Mom bought groceries at the Colonial Grocery Store in the middle of the shopping complex that now is a furniture store. We would always take a dozen home from that little white building.
When my Dad got off graveyard at Reigel, he would stop and get a box. My Mom and I would get up and eat one (huh, who am I kidding, we ate more than one) of those warm, luscious, glazed, perfect confections.
Wilmington’s “original” Krispy Kreme was located on Oleander Drive, where the main entrance to Independence Mall is now located. Yes, there was a Krispy Kreme store at Market and 16th Streets, across from the White Front, but they didn’t do any baking at the site – they had the dougnuts trucked in from the main Oleander Drive store. To the best of my knowledge, there was never a Krispy Kreme on Carolina Beach Road at Legion Stadium….
The building that is the White Front was Jarman’s pharmacy when I was at NHHS, circa 1965. I remember the soda fountain and the black and white checkered floor. The shopping center across the street on the east side of 16th was likely the first “shopping center”, or one of the very first. I believe it preceded both North 17 and Hanover Center. The Krispy Kreme was located on the far west end of this shopping center. In 1967 I picked up donuts there at 4:30am to take to my job at the Airport Grill. These donuts were provided to Piedmont Airlines personnel for passengers on early morning flights.