There were groans of disbelief early yesterday at Hinkle's Donuts on Suder Avenue in the Shoreland/Point Place area when regular customers learned the shop and business will close tomorrow.

Also shutting is the Hinkle's on Bancroft Street in Sylvania Township.

"Oh, my gosh!" exclaimed Joan Baker, of Point Place. "I love their cinnamon cupcakes."

Ms. Baker, a school psychologist in Delta, had just picked up two dozen doughnuts for teachers and staff coming back for classes.

"Yes, it's sad," said Dan Stakley, owner for the last decade, with his wife, Ann, of 45-year-old Hinkle's.

The couple tried to sell the business, he said, but finally decided to close it because "the economy for the last couple of years has been on a down grade, and the cost of ingredients and supplies has risen dramatically."

The business suffered from the trend away from high-fat foods, although customer loyalty helped keep things going, Mr. Stakley said. He experimented with other types of food, but said, "I just couldn't get excited about them."

Mr. Stakley, 66, said, "It was a big emotional decision. We either had to get bigger or get out and at our age, we didn't see a lot of reason to expand. We're worn out."

Hinkle's employs about 20 at the Suder Avenue bakery and retail shop and four at the suburban location, including part-timers.

The stores were open every day. In addition, the firm had a wholesale route, delivering to about 20 groceries and convenience stores in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

Mr. Stakley said he hopes seven or eight of the workers will be hired by another baker who plans to take over the Bancroft Street store under another name.

The baker plans to continue making one of Hinkle's most popular confections, "bear claws," thin Danish-like pastries, he added.

"It's a blow," said Bonnie Unisko, a worker in the Suder Avenue shop for more than seven years.

"We're out of jobs. I'm 61, and with the way things are in Toledo, I may not be able to get a job. We're sorry to see it close, but you just have to move on."

Angie Thompson, manager of the Suder Avenue facility, said, "There were many factors - the economy, the costs, gasoline prices."

Hinkle's, which opened in 1961, got its name from David Hinkle, a high school basketball coach in Hudson, Mich., who started with doughnut trailers at fairs and other public events.

The original Hinkle's, on Laskey Road in Toledo, was owned for 32 years by Ronald Napier, one of Mr. Hinkle's students.

The Stakleys bought that store in 1996, added the Suder store a year later, and the Bancroft Street location a year ago. The original store was closed five years ago.

The bakery makes about 100 dozen doughnuts daily, Mr. Stakley said.

Contact Homer Brickey at:

homerbrickey@theblade.com

or 419-724-6129.

First Published August 23, 2006, 10:23 a.m.