For the past two months, Rob and Allison Holcomb have become two of the most popular business owners in Grenada County as they serve up sweet treats to their customers as they operate Nancy’s Donuts.
However, it hasn’t been all flour and sugar for the new entrepreneurs.
Since first reopening the shuttered business on Nov. 17, 2021, the couple has experienced a multitude of emotions. Just shy of the donut shop’s two-month anniversary, a fire crippled the business forcing closure for nearly three months. After weeks of blood, sweat and tears, and the help from family, friends and the community, sweet dough is cooking at the shop once again.
“This started out with a dream before there were no donut shops,” Rob said during a spring Grand Re-Opening event. “We always had the ambition to have a donut shop; my wife loves to make cakes. We looked for the perfect spot and then this became an option, and we had the ability to bring back this landmark, and bring some of the old staples back. When people get excited about old products that they used to have, we’re just as excited about bringing them back. It’s an amazing opportunity and we are so humbled by the community for helping out during the crisis so to speak.”
Brad Branscome, vice president of the Grenada Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, commended the Holcombs for their resilience.
“We’re so proud for y’all and we’re proud for our community and Grenada to have the donut shop back,” he said. “We all got excited, we got opened, everything was going good and then life happens. Adversity came along and we are all faced with that in our lives every day, but y’all met the challenge, y’all dug in. The love for what you do has shown, you’re back and we’re just thankful that all of that has happened and that you’ve got that desire to give this to our community.”
Since reopening, Nancy’s Donuts, located at 1268 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., has enjoyed several successful holiday weeks, helped parents and students celebrate graduations, enjoyed its first National Donut Day, introduced a Whacky Wednesday promotion and has sponsored giveaways.
With Thunder on Water returning this week, Gary Worsham, executive director of the Grenada Tourism Commission, believes the shop will enjoy another big week.
“From a tourism perspective, our job is to bring visitors here to support the retail community and y’all need to look at yourself as a tourism asset, but also a tourism landmark because this place has been here for so long,” he concluded. “What you don’t know that you do sometimes you are selling this great product, but you’re creating memories.”
