The Successful Donut: Location
Cambodian donut shops retain customers because they become well inte- grated into the neighborhoods that they serve. With their small size, location on most major thoroughfares, and frequent placement in shopping centers, it is not difficult for a donut shop to become part of a local resident’s routine. Most customers of Cambodian donut shops patronize stores near their homes and places of employment. “They live around here,” as Dul put it.59 Since shop owners and workers spend long hours in their businesses and often live nearby as well, they know their regulars well and can predict their habits and expec- tations. Chin reported that she knew what kind of donut each of her regu- lars preferred and would do her best to have it ready for them.60 Over time, Chhu observed a correlation between her customers’ ethnicities and the time at which they would arrive at the shop: “You know, most Hispanic people, they come early and then Asian people, like after eight.”61 Among Dul’s regular customers were elderly men who “sleep and wake up early,”62 often arriving at Mr. Steve’s Donuts at 3:30 a.m. Even though it meant extending his already grueling hours, Dul often let them in. In general, the relationships between
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Cambodian donut shops and their neighborhoods appear to be friendly and largely free of the tensions frequently observed between Korean grocery stores and their customer bases in Los Angeles.63
Cambodian donut shops also succeeded because of their provision of local spaces within an extremely large and racially diverse global city. Chhu now has a working knowledge of six different languages in order to communicate with customers from varying ethnic backgrounds.64 In addition, customers can be found playing games and whiling away long hours in the stores’ limited seat- ing. Donut shops also—sometimes grudgingly—provide a place for jobless and homeless people to spend time without spending a lot of money, a valu- able service in a city with a large homeless population frequently restricted from occupying public space.65 As Sokhom pointed out, “[Donut shops] serve a big community that is really low income.”66