Whole Donut chain down to one location after Canton shop closes
The Whole Donut was once a chain with 40 locations in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. With this week’s closure of the Canton shop, there is only one Whole Donut location left, at 920 Enfield St. in Enfield.
The Canton location at 159 Albany Turnpike has been taken over by Luke’s Donut Shop of Avon. Ali Masad, who has owned Luke’s for 25 years, said his son Fidel Masad will run what will now be known as Luke’s Donuts and Grill.
“We’ll have donuts, coffees, drinks, but we’ll also have breakfast sandwiches and pancakes and omelets and we’ll have lunches, grilled chicken, cheeseburgers, sandwiches,” Masad said. “It’ll be the same as the menu in Avon.”
He said he would maintain the homey atmosphere enjoyed by Whole Donuts fans. “We’re going to keep the same vibe. Everybody is used to it around there,” Masad said.
Masad said for the first two weeks, the hours in Canton will be 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Hours will expand to seven days a week after that, he said.
John Algérie, owner of the Canton Whole Donut, could not be reached for comment. That location announced its closure, and Algérie’s retirement, on Facebook on Monday evening.
Fans of the Canton shop gathered on Facebook to reminisce.
“My dad used to stop there Sunday mornings sometimes with me. And now my husband would go with our kids. I have great memories from there. Best chocolate sprinkled ever,” one commenter wrote.
Mihir Patel, who has owned the Enfield location for about 20 years, said “I can’t express really how I feel, but I am sad” that the Canton location has closed.
Patel once owned two other Whole Donut locations, which are now closed, in the Hazardville section of Enfield and in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The Whole Donut was founded in 1955 in downtown Hartford by Italian immigrants Angelo Gencarelli Jr. and his brother, Frank, according to Nick Arduini. Arduini, the grandson of a friend of the Gencarellis, is administrator of the Whole Donut Facebook page. In 1953, Angelo Gencarelli also founded the Bess Eaton donut chain, which peaked at 50 shops in southern New England.
Arduini, who grew up in Southington and now lives in Vermont, said he was upset when he heard the Canton news.
“It’s been a big part of my life since I’ve been little, growing up around it, a place special to our family. Every single get-together our family has whether it’s birthdays, even Christmas, we always had their coffee at our house. Even for some parties, we will have the cups. We buy a sleeve of them at a time,” Arduini said. “The Whole Donut is a big part of our family.”
The Enfield location is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
