Krispy Kreme to Test 'Factory Store' In N.C. Wal-Mart Store

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. plans to open one of its doughnut-making retail stores within a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Supercenter in Mount Airy, N.C., as part of a test, a Krispy Kreme spokeswoman said. The so-called factory store will be about 1,800 square feet and will be located in the bakery section.

The factory store is expected to be added around mid-October, the spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires. In addition, Krispy Kreme plans to open shops within four other Wal-Mart stores in October in order to test the doughnut chain's various store formats. Two will be "doughnut and coffee shops," which have smaller footprints but deliver hot doughnuts and coffee, and two will be "fresh shops," or outlets selling doughnuts delivered to the store daily from a nearby Krispy Kreme store.

The doughnut and coffee shops, expected to be between 840 and 1,000 square feet in size, will be in Wal-Mart stores in Virginia Beach, Va., and Scottsburg, Ind., which is near Krispy Kreme's factory store in Louisville, Ky. The fresh shops will be in Wal-Marts in Seymour, Ind., and Christiansburg, Va. Factory stores in Roanoke, Va., and Indianapolis will supply the Wal-Mart shops with finished doughnuts.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., not a franchisee, owns the rights to develop Krispy Kreme stores in the Mount Airy, N.C., market, which is northwest of Winston-Salem, the spokeswoman said. Other test outlets are also in markets where Krispy Kreme owns development rights for its stores, she added.

Wal-Mart doesn't have a deadline for determining whether the outlets are successful, a spokeswoman told Dow Jones.

In other Wal-Mart news, the nation's largest retailer has said it will carry MedImmune's FluMist nasal spray flu vaccine this fall as part of its national flu vaccination campaign. The companies say it will be the only flu vaccine to be carried by Wal-Mart this flu season.
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