Cops & Doughnuts: the bakery the police bought

Clare is home to one of Michigan’s best small-town stories. The Clare City Bakery had been on McEwan Street since 1896, but by 2009 the recession had emptied out much of downtown and the bakery was weeks from closing. So all nine officers of the Clare Police Department pooled their own money and bought it — with no experience running a bakery. They named it “Cops & Doughnuts.”

The story took off. National news picked it up, tourists started coming by the busload, and the bakery helped bring downtown Clare back to life. Today it’s a full bakery, diner, and gift shop (with plenty of police-themed merchandise and puns), it’s spun off locations in other Michigan towns, and on a busy week it can draw more visitors than the city has residents.

You’ll find the original at 521 N. McEwan Street in downtown Clare.