The Abridged version:
- Broadway Donuts is closing after 37 years at 28th Street and Broadway.
- It was founded by Cambodian refugees, whose son took over the business in 2010.
- That son, Josan Kim So, suffered a stroke on Aug. 15 and is closing the shop to take care of his health.
Broadway Donuts has served old-fashioneds, buttermilk bars and apple fritters to sleepy-eyed Sacramentans for 37 years. On Dec. 12, it will close for good.
The doughnut shop at 28th Street and Broadway is shutting down as owner Josan Kim So tends to his health, he said Tuesday morning.
Kim So suffered a stroke on Aug. 15, and spent three days in the ICU. His mobility is now limited, and his mental health has worsened, he said. What’s more, doctors warned he was at elevated risk of another stroke within the next year, especially if he didn’t change his lifestyle.
“This stroke really took a big effect on my health,” Kim So said. “I had a pretty long three months of thinking (about) what I’m going to do with my life. I know it feels pretty sad closing the shop. The community supported us through all these years.”
Kim So’s parents Telline So and Tong Yin came to California after surviving the Khmer Rouge. Like many other Cambodian immigrants, they entered the doughnut game, opening what was then known as Baker Ben’s in 1988.
The doughnut shop was open from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. in those days, and Kim So started helping out as a kid, folding pink boxes in exchange for hot chocolate. He took over the business in 2010, a year after moving next door, when his dad retired.
Broadway Donuts has no indoor seating, but the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on the business anyway, as did a worsening homelessness problem outside its front door. Still, Kim So had planned to keep the doughnut shop running for years to come before his stroke. A local artist painted a mural of two cranes on the western wall just last year.
“It’s going to be sad,” Kim So said. “I think I might be sad for a while.”
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.