Local reaction to Hostess shutdown
By: Heather Sawaski
Updated: November 16, 2012
DE PERE, Wis. (WFRV) - Hostess is shutting down and the news has Hostess products flying off store shelves.
Cupcakes, Suzie Q's, Ho Ho's and Ding Dongs, get them while they last.
"The products that you see right here will no longer be carried in our stores or any other store," Said Nick Arlt, of Festival Foods, as he gestured toward a half empty shelf.
News of Hostess halting production has already hit the shelves of Festival Foods in De Pere. The store is sold out of regular Twinkies.
"We're not going to get replenished so I would think in the next couple of days this should be depleted pretty well," added Arlt.
Store officials said they're last delivery of Hostess breads and snack cakes came in Friday. They've carried the iconic brand for decades.
Mary Penn came to stock up on the sweets.
"I felt I had to buy some, even though I don't normally," she said. "Typically, none of the snack cake products. I usually do my own baking, but I heard the story and thought this is kind of a funeral."
Sugar lovers now have to look to substitutes.
"There are competitors, of course, Little Debbie and other things," said Arlt. "So if you do have that sweet tooth you can find, I'm sure, a plethora of other alternatives to that. I'm sure between national, regional, and local distributors, we should be able to have more than enough variety for what people are looking for."
People are already trying to sell the extinct snack cakes on websites, like eBay. Some boxes of Twinkies and Ho Ho's have asking prices of more than $50.
