Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C., opened its first Neighborhood Shop and Kremery in Knightdale, N.C., earlier this month.

Opening day festivities began at 5:30 a.m. with the first customer receiving a dozen Original Glazed® donuts for free every week for a year, and the next 11 customers won a dozen free Original Glazed donuts every month for a year. In addition, the first 100 customers took home a Krispy Kreme t-shirt. Customers all day long were given free samples of the company's Kool Kreme soft serve ice cream and other Krispy Kreme treats.

The 1,750-sq.-ft. store features several Krispy Kreme offerings, including donuts, signature coffees and espresso drinks, Krispy Kreme Chillers® and iced beverages. The new concept also offers Krispy Kreme's new Kool Kreme® soft serve menu. Varieties include Very Vanilla and Deep Chocolate, and the soft serve is available in traditional cones, shakes and sundaes, all paired with a toppings bar.

The concept also features donut sundaes, which come in chocolate cake, strawberry cake and Original Glazed. The Artic Avalanche^™ combines Kool Kreme with a candy mix-in.

“Krispy Kreme is excited to open its first Neighborhood Shop and Kremery,” said Cindy Bay, senior vice president of company store operations for Krispy Kreme. “We look forward to the continued success of our new smaller retail concept shops, which will allow us to continue to bring fresh, unique, signature products closer to consumers, and offer the Krispy Kreme value and experience to new audiences.”

The concept's stores are smaller than the average 4,000-sq.-ft. factory stores that include donut production equipment. Donuts are shipped from nearby stores to the Neighborhood Shop and Kremery locations. Krispy Kreme currently operates 535 units around the world.