WORCESTER, Mass. - Popular specialty doughnut shop, Glazy Susan, hopes to reopen soon after being closed since late Thursday morning.
According to the shop's owners, Susan and Joseph Skrzek, they were informed on Wednesday the chiller in the DCU Center had failed and there was no timetable for its repair. Additionally, the Skrzeks were told there was no temporary cooling solution available to them.
The average temperature in Worcester from Wednesday to Friday was around 90 degrees. Glazy Susan customers were telling the owners on Thursday it was warmer inside their shop than it was outside. The Skrzeks made the decision to close early Thursday after being open just two hours.
In a released statement to Spectrum News 1, the Skrzeks said, "Knowing that we were in the midst of a heat wave, we knew we would struggle to operate, but we tried to do so...The high heat and humidity makes it very difficult to keep our dough at the proper temperature, and prevent it from over-fermenting. We also noticed very quickly after opening that the heat and humidity was causing the glazes on our doughnuts to melt, and our doughnuts were falling apart. We were not comfortable selling doughnuts that did not meet our quality standards, so we decided to close until we could find a cooling solution."
Glazy Susan has a large wall of windows at their DCU Center location on the corner of Foster Street and Commercial Street. Owners say the windows act "like a greenhouse."
The Skrzeks tell Spectrum News 1 they have incurred significant costs to rent air conditioning units and have lost significant revenue being closed since Thursday. The loss in revenue, the Skrzeks say, has impacted their small business, with full-time employees counting on the hours and pay.