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Joe's Donuts

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The tradition continues — hot, fresh doughnuts available into the late hours of the night.

That sweet sugary smell wafting around Ninth and Indiana streets is luring customers back to Joe’s Bakery, home of the original glazed-doughnut recipe that has kept pastry lovers returning for 55 years.

Joe’s Bakery, named after its owner Joe Smith, had its grand re-opening Tuesday evening after a three-week closure in July. That’s all it took for new owners, Kenny Tibbits and Ron Hall, to take over.

And with new ownership comes new hours, nearly around-the-clock pastry service. But the hours are nothing new for residents who remember the original owners of this Lawrence landmark.

The new hours are the same as they were when Joe’s first opened: 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday and 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. as well as 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Julie Patterson, Lawrence resident, has lived in the city for 30 years and has remembered going to Joe’s Bakery since she was young. She said she was excited for it to return to its extended hours because it’s a Lawrence tradition. Her boyfriend lives above the bakery, and she said she could smell the doughnuts all day.

“The thing at Joe’s was we got the glazed doughnuts at night when they were fresh,” she said. “It was like eating a piece of heaven.”

Steven Thompson knew it was worth the wait. As the first customer in line, he waited 45 minutes for the bakery to open. He wanted his dollar bill to be the first used as an exchange of loyalty to the owners, who had repeatedly visited his place of employment next door, Presto Convenience Store No. 25, 602 W. Ninth St.

The nighttime hours are expected to draw even more college students. The previous owner, Brad Rettele, didn’t offer extended service during his one-year ownership. He said college students didn’t come in the morning because they didn’t get up that early.

Rettele, who helped new owners Tibbits and Hall get ready for the grand re-opening, said he called Hall in July to see if he would buy the business. It took only four hours for Hall to confirm and call Tibbits to ask if he would be his partner.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever owned a business,” Tibbits said. “I’m excited but it’s a lot of work and cleaning up.”

Before Rettele, Joe’s son, Ralph, owned the bakery for the last 12 years. He said that it was always going to stay Joe’s Bakery and that all the recipes have stayed the same too.

The grand re-opening also came just in time for another tradition ­— Joe’s Run, an annual scholarship hall event that happens the Tuesday of Hawk Week. About 250 scholarship hall residents walked from their halls to Joe’s at midnight for doughnuts.

Between bites of her jelly-filled doughnut, Clarice Amorim, Recife, Brazil, freshman and resident of Miller Scholarship Hall, said a lot of the events during Hawk Week made her feel more at home. She said they only had Dunkin’ Donuts in Brazil and no one really went to it, but she might go to Joe’s more often.

Kansan staff writer Erin Castaneda can be contacted at ecastaneda@kansan.com.

— Edited by Shanxi Upsdell