Monthly Archive for December, 2008

Okay okay, I know this is really an outdated news but to be honest, if it wasn’t my colleague Sharon who alerted me about this, I would have been kept in the dark for the longest time. It seems that the Hong Kong’s Krispy Kreme in late October have went into liquidation, another victim of the financial crisis plaguing us right now. There are two of its seven outlets standing in Hong Kong back in October and I wonder how long they can last before they become extinct.

As a person who still hasn’t had his fair share of the Krispy goodness despite making a point to have loads when I travel or bugging my colleagues popping overseas to get me a box (or two), the news of their closure has kind of affected me. I mean hey, these babies are really good and there were so many memories and experiences that accompanied these doughnuts. From my trip to Sydney back in 2006, the tearful stories of how my friends had to carefully lug them back from as far as Australia, to the number of beer/coffee/water sessions with friends and the doughnuts,  they were all good. Heck, I even wrote an entry about it when I was in Hong Kong last year. Corny as it may sound but I guess all good things must come to an end, well in this case Kispy Kreme in Hong Kong.

Left and right: My Krispy Kreme experience in Hong Kong

HK’s Krispy Kreme goes bust - Taken from Asiaone

HONG KONG – THE Hong Kong franchisee of American chain Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is going into liquidation, as it becomes the latest company in the city to close amid the global financial crisis.

Of its seven stores in Hong Kong, five will be closed immediately.

The two outlets at the Hong Kong International Airport will continue to trade until further notice, said Briscoe & Wong, which has been appointed as independent financial advisers to help the franchisee find liquidators.

A creditors’ meeting would be held on Nov 12 to seek liquidators to deal with the assets of Krispy Kreme Hong Kong and the claims of its employees and creditors, Briscoe & Wong said in a statement yesterday.

‘The directors are very disappointed that they have had to take this action,’ it said.

Earlier this month, the United States sweet-treats chain said it agreed with KKD Lotte Holdings to open 35 Krispy Kreme retail locations over the next four to five years in China’s major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin.

Lotte is Krispy Kreme’s franchisee in South Korea and Japan.

Krispy Kreme has struggled in recent years with restatements, investigations into its past accounting records and a decline in doughnut sales that sent some of its franchisees into bankruptcy.

Its not everyday I feel like a young boy rocking to the tunes from my favourite band at a concert with a bunch of like minded people. But I’m glad I did just that at the Angels & Airwaves concert at the NUS University Cultural Centre on Sunday. Standing amongst fans who are about 10 years younger (if not more) than I, we sang to our favourite tunes including The Adventure, Secret Crowds and Everything’s Magic. There were even some memorable moments like how some of us shook our heads in overwhelming expression when the music for The Gift started, a crowd favourite.

Left: Lead singer Tom Delonge | Right: Matt Wachter on Bass

Just a little background here, my passion for their music dates just a little while back when they launched their first album “We Don’t Need To Whisper” in mid-2006. All thanks to a channel surfing moment one lazy Saturday morning, I came across one of their songs on MTV and caught a familiar voice which took me some time to figure out. Turned out the lead singer was Tom DeLonge from Blink 182, a band I used to listen. Let’s say the rest was history.

Left: Guitarist David Kennedy | Right: Offspring drummer Atom Willard

And what better way to enjoy your favourite band perfoming than standing up close with them all thanks to the really expensive tickets purchased on day one of sale. Although Lyn (my boo) who accompanied me fell ill that night and had to leave after the opening act (poor dear, no fun blowing chunks in a concert), I rocked enough for the both of us and it was money well spent. Of course being the ‘ol PR guy I try to be, I made friends before the concert and we blended with the crowd.

Left: One of the fans who temporaily got a little closer to Tom, she was ordered by security to get down | Right: Tom announcing during the encore that David is gay (no he’s not!)

As usual, I did a really stupid thing again and left my memory card at home and took along a fully charged camera. That was the same week that I cracked my Nokia N95’s LCD (with a 5mp camera), which was not ready that night. Hence, I was stuck with my old but trusty spare phone, the Sony Ericsson K750i (with a 2mp camera). Taking photos that night was really challenging but I managed to take a few nice ones. Thankfully, Ah Jie (my dear sister Fel’s sister but not exactly my sister…yeah I know..long story) got me a nice autograph of the band and Tom even did had a Vincent van Gogh moment. Its a real keeper.

Priceless!!

Unless Angels & Airwaves come to town again, I seriously doubt I will be heading to any rock concert soon. I feel old, I can’t sing as loud as the fans there and when they start jumping to the rythm, I start to panic. I can’t imagine what I’d do if a mosh pit develops. But then again, it is always too soon to say anything. Until then, I will be waiting for their third album which they will start recording early next year…

More photos in my Flickr album here.