Hurts Donut to open store in Okla.

Hurts Donuts Co. next month is slated to open its second location a busy retail district across the street from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.

Co-owner Tim Clegg said he and his wife, Kas, are spending between $50,000 and $60,000 out of pocket to open the roughly 2,700-square-foot specialty donut shop in the city about a week before the fall semester begins.

“I lived in Norman in the early '90s and went to school at OU. It’s a good fit with our business model. We have been successful with our college demographic,” Clegg said.

He said the Campus Corner retail center was what attracted him to Norman.

“It’s directly across the street from the university. It’s basically where everybody goes between classes, as well as it is one of two nightspots in Norman. There’s lots of restaurants and clothing stores up and down the street,” Clegg said. “There’s bars and music venues too, so it lent well to our 24-hour business model.”

The new store will feature two outdoor patios and an espresso bar – something he said he didn’t have room for in the roughly 1,500-square-foot downtown Springfield location.

“We had originally said if we do well, we’ll look at opening a second location in three to four years. It was just shy of six months that we said, ‘Let’s go ahead and sign the lease on our second location,’” Clegg said.

Preparations for the new location come as the Cleggs are finishing a buyout of the interest in Hurts Donut from former business partners Ross and Kim Tracy for an undisclosed amount.

Hurts Donut – a name born from a homonym in a classic joke – splashed on the Springfield scene last fall with its creative flair featuring donuts topped with everything from M&M's to Fruity Pebbles to Rainbow Nerds. The company, which opened its doors on Park Central West Nov. 18, had pulled in more than $600,000 in revenue through the end of June, according to Clegg, which far surpassed the owners’ expectations.

Clegg declined to provide revenue estimates for the Norman store, but said he expected it to outpace Springfield sales in the first year. To protect the brand moving forward, he said they would likely only open one store per city.