Readers React: How to fend off big chains: Create, don’t compete

To the editor: Sing Yam and the West Covina doughnut shop she has owned and operated for 28 years have been dealt a bad hand by her mall owners and the city, which are facing backlash over the location of a new Dunkin’ Donuts practically next door. (“Mom-and-pop shop’s fans in a twist about proposed Dunkin’ Donuts,” April 12)

Maybe this will help.

My wife and I have owned our doughnut shop for the past 60 years — same shop, same location. Over the years we have been surrounded by major chain shops, from Winchell’s to you name it.

My advice for Yam: Just keep making your doughnuts fresh and exceptional. Don’t compete with anyone; just create. Once the good people of West Covina taste Dunkin’ Donuts’ half-frozen pastries, it will be no contest.

Ralph Primo, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Ordinarily I thoroughly enjoy reading Steve Lopez’s columns each week, but somewhere in the middle of reading Wednesday’s piece about a doughnut shop in West Covina, my eyes began to glaze over.

Bob Nielsen, Pasadena

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