Randy’s Donuts and its famous fried bites are headed to Santa Monica sometime in early 2021.
Company President Mark Kelegian announced the company signed a lease to take over the old Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf storefront located at 829 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica. There is currently no exact opening date for the space but Kelegian expects it to open sometime in February or early March.
While restaurants and cafes shutter throughout the Westside, the Santa Monica location is expected to be the eighth Randy’s Donuts open in California since establishments in Torrance, Bakersfield and Costa Mesa are all slated to open between now and March. Kelegian said the company is confident heading into the launches because, “at our price point, we’re always good, so COVID doesn’t really affect us.”
People still want donuts in a pandemic, and maybe even more so now because they’re looking for a treat, Kelegian said. “So, we are expanding because, unfortunately, a lot of the businesses have gone out of business and that’s created opportunities for new locations. I mean, we’re looking at sites that we couldn’t get into two years ago because they were completely booked up. So, while COVID has obviously been unfortunate for everyone. It has created some real-estate opportunities for us and we are already in the midst of expansion so we’re just continuing to move forward.”
Randy’s has been working on closing the deal at Wilshire for a few months because it’s a phenomenal location that’s a destination for travelers and tourists alike, Kelegian said. “We think by being in Wilshire — as opposed to say the Promenade — we have an opportunity to serve the locals a lot more here.”
But residents looking for an instagrammable giant donut on top of the building will be disappointed because there won’t be one in Santa Monica city limits.
Santa Monica prohibits signs from peaking above the roof line, Kelegian said. “But we’re pretty confident we’re not going to have a problem with people knowing that we’re there… If I could, I’d put a giant donut up; I really would, but it’s just not going to happen this time.”
Even so, Kelegian said the company is excited to be in Santa Monica, “where we know we have a loyal customer base that can’t get to us as often as they may like… So, we’re excited to be able to serve our customers more frequently and just be part of the community.”
The address of the proposed location has been corrected to 829 Wilshire Blvd.
