Cops & Doughnuts - Clare City Bakery - Downtown Clare Michigan

There wasn't much in Clare in 1896. A grain elevator sat next to the railroad tracks, just south of the hardware store and a few businesses began to open, one of them being the Clare City Bakery. Not much of a town so far, but the local farmers could pick up supplies in town after the trip to the elevator and grab something good to eat at the bakery.

Over the last one hundred and thirteen years, Clare has changed a great deal. Stores have come and gone, an outstanding school system was built along with a great hospital. Yes, a lot has changed, but not the bakery. And it never will!

The bakery and doughnut shop stands tall and white and solid of brick at the intersection of our two main streets across from the famous Hotel Doherty. It has never closed. For over a hundred years, generations of families have used the bakery as a place to gather and enjoy being in a place they want to be. A place called Clare. A place we call home.

When you walk into Cops & Doughnuts, and we hope you do, you will first notice its smells great! Bakeries always do, I suppose, but ours is the best. Really. In front of you is the doughnut display counter that thousands upon thousands of people have leaned against and struggled to find just the right one. If you look up, you will see the original tin ceiling high overhead. If you were to sneak into the back of the bakery, where the magic happens, you will find baking equipment both modern and from long ago. We like to use the old stuff the best. This equipment is seasoned with countless thousands of batches of goodness. Some was in use when the Purple Gang used to hang out in Clare. Even our criminals like doughnuts!

Under the bakery is the basement storage area and is filled with even older equipment that we refused to give up. Some of this stuff is over a hundred years old. It is our own personal museum. There is still some coal in the bin where it was shoveled down from the main street long ago. This too, we keep. It's a little scary in the basement, most old basements are, but being here makes one think back to the thirties when the Purple Gang was around and, if the rumor is true, the basement coal bin was a hiding place when the heat was on. I wonder what the gang members would think about a bunch of cops now running the place!

Upstairs is empty right now, but long ago it was a law office. See, what goes around, comes around!

Please stop by and visit our historic doughnut shop. We are proud to be helping Clare and would love to sit and have a coffee with you and talk about the good old days, and the many good new days to come. Come and see a place we call home. A place called Clare.

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