Strange Donuts owner buys World’s Fair Donuts, plans to reopen in mid-January

The only question asked of us more in the past several months than “What’s the best restaurant in town?” is “Will World’s Fair Donuts ever reopen?” 

The answer to the latter is an emphatic “yes”—and within a few weeks.

The beloved shop closed in mid-July, when owners Peggy and Terry Clanton hit the pause button after Peggy was injured in a fall. The subsequent plan was for their 54-year-old son to operate the business, but he recently died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

Then, yesterday, Strange Donuts owner Jason Bockman cryptically announced in a Facebook post that “World’s Fair will reopen soon.” KMOV’s Alexis Zotos confirmed that Bockman had in fact purchased the business and the shop would reopen by mid-January, following some deferred maintenance.

Bockman had been interested in buying the business for years. “They [the Clantons] were legends to me, icons, mentors that eventually became my friends,” he says. “I began helping out at the shop, taking out the trash, doing odd jobs that needed to be done, visiting them when they were sick…”

In light of recent developments, they asked him if he wanted to buy the business. He told Peggy “only with your guidance,” indicating that he wanted to continue the business exactly as the family had run it for the past 45 years.

The Clantons provided the recipes for the static menu of 13 to 15 donut varieties, which until a few years ago were made onsite, old-school style: mixed by hand in huge mixing bowls. Prices and payment would remain nearly the same: .91 per donut (up from .81 where they’d been for decades), which translates to an even $1 apiece including tax (and $10 per dozen), cash only.

The most popular varieties will likely stay the same as well, Bockman reasons, with glazed leading the way (15 dozen per day), followed by blueberry cake, devil’s food, and buttermilk cake. Bockman does plans to change are the hours, currently slated for 6 a.m.–2 p.m., though those hours could change with customer demand.

Bockman says “the uniqueness” is what attracted him to World’s Fair Donuts. “For decades, the Clantons made a simple but good product, sold it at a fair price, went home, were finished with it, and came back to do it the next day,” he says. “That’s the part about it I like.”

It’s a no-frills, no-gimmicks, old-school business whose success isn’t predicated on prompting by any outside influences.

“I still make the donuts at Strange,” adds Bockman. “I plan to help make them at here [at World’s Fair], too, along with one of my managers who’s already been Peggy-approved.”

The business began on North Grand Avenue in 1944 as Northside Donuts. When the decision was made to relocate to the Southwest Garden neighborhood, the name had to be jettisoned as well. The address of the new location: 1904 Vandeventer. World’s Fair Donuts was born.

“I am so honored to be the one who gets to carry this torch,” Bockman says. “With expectations so high and tradition so steeped, I just want to continue it as it was. To me, it would be sacrilegious to change the place. A little paint, some polish, tighten a few screws, and we’ll be ready to go.”

This article has been updated from the original version.