This South Suburban Strip Is Denver’s Doughnut District

“Mmmm…. Donuts.”

Few phrases capture the enduring human attraction to glazed rounds of fried dough better than this simple, joyful, almost meditative sigh made famous by America’s favorite dad: Homer Simpson. 

Who can argue with it? Doughnuts are a near-universal source of satisfaction, craved for and appreciated by all walks of life. From the stereotypical laziness of a beat cop, to the gleeful excitement of a young child, to the instant popularity of the office worker surprising their staff, few things in life have such broad appeal as a brightly colored box of sugary appreciation.

According to data from Nielsen and the Retail Bakers of America, doughnut sales average about $10 billion annually in the U.S. And while the Krispy Kremes and Dunkin’ Donuts of the world (not to mention grocery store chains) certainly contribute a large portion of that, over 60 percent of this total comes from small, retail bakeries, including both small franchises and mom-and-pop operations. 

So perhaps it comes as no surprise that even in health-conscious Denver, there are more than enough options for getting your fried-dough-and-sugar fix. But few areas of the metro area have as condensed a strip of doughnut options as along Arapahoe Road, traversing the southern suburbs of Centennial and Greenwood Village.

In just a three-mile stretch along this busy corridor straddling I-25, there are five doughnut shops operating in some cases so close to one another that you could throw, well, a doughnut from one and hit the other. Expand the radius to just slightly north or south of Arapahoe, and you’ll add another three spots to the mix. 

That’s a lot of doughnuts, and a lot of people making, buying and eating doughnuts in a suburban area that only recently started to shed its reputation as a haven for chain-restaurant mediocrity.

Excluding the national chains, here are the South Denver doughnut shops along Arapahoe from west to east that are so close to one another, you could walk to them all and barely burn off the calories from a single doughnut.

Donut Maker
9625 East Arapahoe Road, Greenwood Village
303-799-1702
Donut Maker may just be the oldest doughnut shop in the metro area. Despite its location just around the corner from a Dunkin’ Donuts, this weathered strip-mall shop has served the area consistently since 1988. 

Donut Maker has changed hands several times over the years. Today, it’s owned by Joshua Song, a former employee of the previous owners who bought the business seven years ago and continues the tradition of freshly-made doughnuts. While many of the other shops on this list have expanded to include more modern doughnut innovations, such as cronuts and elaborately decorated concoctions, Donut Maker keeps it old-school. Glazed. Chocolate. Sugar. Fried, old-fashioned or cake. Filled options like Long Johns and Bismarcks are about as exotic as it gets here, but it still cranks out some 2,000 doughnuts a day with a team of three. 

“We’ve definitely kept to the original classics,” Song says. “We’ve tried everything else, but for our customer base, it’s the classics.”

According to Song, some 75 percent of its business is wholesale deliveries to local businesses like car dealerships, gas stations and hospitals. Retail sales are just what you’d expect: office workers on weekdays, and families on the weekends. The shop opens at 5 a.m., and by 9 a.m., the pickings get pretty slim. 

Desert Donuts
8501 East Arapahoe Road, Greenwood Village
Skipping past the bigger chains of Dunkin’ Donuts and Yonutz, Desert Donuts is just a mile east of Donut Maker in the Arapahoe Marketplace shopping area. It is the second Colorado location for the small franchise (its only other location at the moment is the original in Phoenix). But we may see many more of them soon, as the Colorado franchisee plans to open 25 locations across the state.

A few things stand out at Desert Donuts. First, it offers all cake doughnuts, none fried. Second, they’re all made to order. That means once you place your order, the raw dough starts to cook, and you have a warm, decorated doughnut in just a matter of minutes (up to ten minutes for a full dozen). In addition to the sixty signature topping options, you can also create a custom topping of your choice from more than 20,000 potential combinations. 

There are also dough shakes (milkshakes with a doughnut hanging from the straw), doughnut cereal shakes (same, but with cereal toppings on the doughnuts), donought ice cream pies, and doughnut “meals” for a more sweet-and-savory take. 

Anna’s Donuts and Burritos
5999 South University Boulevard, Greenwood Village
Just north of Arapahoe on South University, across from the Trader Joe’s, is Anna’s Donuts and Burritos, bookending the shopping center housing the equally popular Na Favola Trattoria restaurant. Originally a We Knead Donuts location, owners Anna and Jesus Arcos changed the name a year and a half ago to go their own way with the business. On any given morning, and especially on weekends, you’ll see a line out at this diminutive and unassuming shop — even before it opens. 

Among the traditional doughnut options are its version of a cronut: layered croissant dough made with rice flour, fried and glazed into a satisfyingly crunchy and sweet treat that nearly always sells out. Equally popular here are the massive breakfast burritos. Weighing in at twenty ounces, the egg, meat and potato-packed tortilla is a welcome departure from the recent trend of too many breakfast burritos cutting back on the egg and overindexing on the spuds.

While named after Anna, who manages the counter with her children and local student helpers, her husband, Jesus, is the cook at Anna’s. A twenty-year veteran of such kitchens as Seasons 52 and Red Robin, he takes a notably chef-driven approach to the business, down to his specific technique for the eggs in his burritos and the flour mixtures for each doughnut line. 

Soon, this business will add a second outpost in the former Lamar’s Donuts location at 2120 South Broadway. The opportunity arose after the owner of that shopping center saw the lines out the door and positive reviews, prompting them to call the Arcos family to see if they’d be interested in the space. “It was kind of like sent from above,” says Jesus. “It was meant to be, because he called five minutes after we were just talking about maybe opening a new place.”

The Donut 
5270 East Arapahoe Road, Centennial
303-220-1744
Once one of several locally owned food/beverage establishments in the former King Soopers shopping center, today The Donut remains on of the last surviving holdouts. Neighbors like Liks Ice Cream, Winston’s Smoke BBQ and Halfpenny Brewery are now gone. But thanks to new ownership, The Donut has managed to survive another day. 

Owner Su Bil bought the business last December and has retained the head doughnut baker to keep operations running without a hitch, including dishing out breakfast burritos that sell out within hours of opening. She also added some new items, like cream buns and cronut bars (basically a fried cronut with pastry cream and fruit).

Among the regular customers frequenting the small walk-in shop are a large contingent of senior citizens living in the nearby assisted living communities. “They want their cake doughnuts,” Bil says. “They’re very specific. They’ve been eating doughnuts all their lives, and they know what they want.” Rest assured, gramps: She’s not getting rid of any old favorites, but she is creating new ones, such as an apple fritter literally as big as your face, and an equally large “Texas Donut” available for pre-order only. 

Wave The Grain
8172 South Holly Street, Centennial
South of Arapahoe, past Dry Creek, is the gluten-free Wave The Grain. While not primarily a doughnut shop, Wave The Grain does offer a selection of baked gluten-free doughnuts along with the cupcakes, danishes and arepas that otherwise dominate the bakery.  According to co-owner Tom O’Connor — who acquired the eight-year-old business in 2024 — only about 10 percent of sales come from doughnuts, which are typically featured on Saturdays, aka “donut days.”