Cops and Doughnuts Spotlight: Clare, Michigan

In 2009, the bakery in Clare, Michigan that had been serving the community since 1896 was about to close its doors. A group of nine local police officers decided that was not going to happen. They pooled their money, bought the bakery, and opened for business. The story went national. The doughnuts were always already good.

Located at 135 N McEwan St in downtown Clare, Cops and Doughnuts has become one of the most recognized small businesses in Michigan and one of the more unusual success stories in recent American retail history. The officers who own it have leaned into the concept with humor and genuine affection for their community, creating an atmosphere that is part bakery, part cop-themed novelty shop, and entirely a place people drive significant distances to visit.

The doughnuts are made fresh daily in the original tradition of the bakery that preceded them. Cake doughnuts, raised glazed, filled bismarks, fritters, and long johns rotate through a case that sells out on busy days before afternoon. The coffee is hot, the shop is usually packed on weekends, and the staff carries the easy confidence of people who know they are running something genuinely special.

Clare sits at the intersection of US-10 and US-27, which makes it a natural stopping point for anyone heading north through the middle of the Lower Peninsula. Pulling off to get a doughnut in Clare is, at this point, practically a Michigan tradition.

Visit at copsanddoughnuts.com. Additional locations have opened in the years since the original Clare shop became a phenomenon.

Michigan Small Business Spotlight is proud to feature Cops and Doughnuts as one of Mid-Michigan’s most beloved and genuinely unique small businesses.