The Donut Hole Shutters at Downtown’s Tony @ Carson Building

By Scott Roeben, on August 22 2024
3 min read 2 comments
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas

The Donut Hole has closed prematurely in the Tony @ Carson building (formerly John E. Carson Building) downtown, something we are not familiar with at all. Prematurity, in case that were not obvious.

Why are we writing about the closure of a doughnut shop? Because it’s a slow news week and because, well, doughnuts. And we have a little inside scoop, so there’s that.

The Donut Hole took the place of Donut Bar, which took the place of O Face Doughnuts. Seeing a pattern here? Donut Hole, from the folks behind Carl’s Donuts, was only in operation for about six months.

Even the glorious Googie stars couldn’t save Donut Hole.

O Face closed in 2015. Donut Bar closed in June of 2023, Donut Hole opened in Jan. 2024 and closed August 19, 2024.

The skinny on Donut Bar is it was making only about $1,000 a week, or about what it costs to park on the street downtown these days.

Why such paltry revenue? No foot traffic.

Here’s Donut Hole’s parting message via Instagram.

Downtown, hole quality varies widely.

Ah, the classic “exploratory concept.” In other words, “We explored, we glazed, we were in the hole the entire six months, we’re out.”

It wasn’t entirely Donut Hole’s fault. A long-awaited project from Dapper Companies just across the street has yet to open, despite being in the works for ages. We trust Donut Hole put a lot of hope in the overhaul and opening of the old post office building (which is supposed to have office space, restaurants and bars) to perk up foot traffic in the area. No such luck.

The reality is it’s tough to pull people off of Fremont Street for doughnuts.

There’s been no word about what might replace The Donut Hole yet, but don’t be surprised if a tenant doesn’t open until the Dapper Companies venue opens across the street.

The Tony @ Carson building was acquired in 2023 by Boston Omaha Asset Management.

There’s been some drama around the Tony @ Carson building, home to the popular Carson Kitchen.

The company also owns the now-closed Inspire theater on Fremont Street, as well as the former Nacho Daddy space (soon to be the Glitter Gulch Tiki bar, opening date postponed indefinitely).

Nobody’s really talking about the fact that of the dozens of Tony Hsieh properties downtown for sale, these are the only ones that have been purchased, and they’ve all been purchased by the same company, Boston Omaha Asset Management. Also not discussed is the fact the Boston Omaha’s co-managing partner, Brendan Keating, is or was the chairman and co-founder of Logic Commercial Real Estate, the real estate brokerage company tasked with shopping Hsieh’s parcels to potential buyers.

There’s so much nothing to see here, it’s comical.

Anyhoo, downtown is down a doughnut shop. There’s always the wildly popular Pinkbox Doughnuts at Plaza and Dunkin at Fremont casino.

Just as these doughnuts do not exist (they’re A.I.), calories consumed in Las Vegas also do not exist. Probably.

Carson Ave. could really use some kind of brightly-lit connector to Fremont Street, as was created between Fremont and Downtown Grand with a shiny promenade. Then again, there were powerful forces at work with the Fremont-to-Grand walkway. Former mayor Oscar Goodman is a big supporter of the Mob Museum, and his wife, the current mayor, ultimately signed off on the money for the promenade because it dramatically improved the sight lines between Fremont and the museum. It’s Vegas, after all. Pizza Rock, Triple George and Hogs & Heifers aren’t mad.

We’ll keep an eye on downtown for you, so you’re free to drink to excess and fornicate with a very reasonably-priced companion down there, just the way Mother Nature intended.