From the Baltimore Sun...
Soon after hearing that Hostess Brands Inc. was shutting down for good, Lisa Renee Clark wasted no time dashing out to the Wonder Hostess Bakery Thriftshop in Glen Burnie.But by midday Friday, she was almost too late. The Twinkies had sold out. Supplies of Wonder white bread were dwindling. And the shelves appeared bare of Ho Hos. Finally spotting two boxes of the cream-filled snack cakes, Clark snatched them up.
"So many fun, good things from my childhood are going away," said Clark, 43, a self-employed production assistant and camera operator from Pasadena. "It reminds me of school lunch."
Nostalgia for Hostess' iconic snacks and Wonder bread drove consumers to the outlet on Furnace Branch Road and area grocers Friday to buy Hostess products by the bagload.
On Friday, the 82-year-old company announced it will liquidate and fire more than 18,000 workers, saying a nationwide strike by bakery workers forced a shutdown of operations. And consumers stocked up, fearing Hostess treats would disappear forever, though it's more likely the brands will be sold off and returned to the market by new owners. Shoppers at Giant Food and Safeway stores in the Baltimore area were buying large quantities of Hostess foods, both grocers reported.
"I can't imagine being without Twinkies," said Edythe Smith, of Annapolis, who also loaded up on Hostess Donettes and CupCakes while shopping with her daughter at the thrift shop.
Hostess, which once ranked as the largest U.S. wholesale baker, had suffered declining sales for years as American diets shifted to more health-conscious choices and as labor and ingredient costs rose. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors in January. The Irving, Texas-based company blamed striking workers for its latest move.
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