Bids Come In For Valley’s Old Krispy Kreme Stores

AZ Central:

Fast-food retailers, Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp. and a local credit union were among the bidders Thursday afternoon for the Valley’s six former Krispy Kreme stores.

The stores have been closed since mid-August, shortly after the Valley’s former Krispy Kreme franchisee, Rigel Corp., with offices in Tempe, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Rigel closed the stores without warning and is now liquidating its assets in order to pay creditors.

Representatives from In-N-Out Burger, Chick-fil-A and El Pollo Loco gathered at the courtroom of Judge Redfield T. Baum of the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court in downtown Phoenix seeking to buy all or some of the 11 stores that Rigel owned and operated in Arizona and New Mexico.Rigel’s portfolio included six Krispy Kreme Stores in the Valley, two in Tucson and three in Albuquerque.

The largest bid on Thursday came from a major franchisee of El Pollo Loco, which offered to buy nine of the stores for $4.9 million. Other bids were taken on individual stores.