Donut Days, the venerable Southland Drive bakery, will be opening a satellite retail bake shop on Euclid Avenue, the store’s owner, Fred Wohlstein, said.
Wohlstein said he hopes to have the shop open by the end of the year, but he acknowledges this might be a hard timeline with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Work is currently underway to rework the space for the new Donut Days, which will be at 814 E. Euclid Ave. (the former location of Blossom). Wohlstein said they will be adding display cases and a few tables. The baked goods sold at the location will be prepared at the main store and sold at the Euclid branch.
Wohlstein said the storefront is in an ideal location for a Donut Days.
“I think the market is right,” he said. “I think the amount of foot traffic I’ve been seeing in Chevy Chase as of late means it’s a perfect time to go in there.”
He also said that he thinks the retail bake shop will be a good complement to some of the other businesses that have opened in the area recently, and that customers’ growing “locally made” mentality was another reason to open a second location.
“People are returning to artisanal products, and local products,” he said. “And that went away for a while, but it’s been coming on for the past five years. And it’s really hitting its stride this year. We’re returning to locally made, not-frozen products, which is nice because we’ve fought the big retailers for years.”
Along with donuts, the bakery specializes in salt-rising bread, rolls, butter biscuits, cookies, bonbons, fudge bars, cream horns (with house-made filling) and other treats which will be available at the Euclid location, as well as coffee and milk.
“You’ve got to be able to wash a donut or cookie down,” Wohlstein said.