MOBILE, Alabama -- The Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop at 1354 Government St. closed at 11 a.m. today, according to company officials, in part because the building didn't fit the company's new business plan.

"A lot of people are going to be sad because it closes one chapter, but it's going to open another," said Chris Brooks, a regional manager for the company.

Company officials considered the move for about a year and the deciding factor was an inability to put a drive-through service at the Government Street store. Sixty percent of the business at the company's remaining store on Hillcrest Road is drive-through, Brooks said.

A plan to install drive-through service at Government Street store was abandoned because it would have forced all the parking for the store to be in the rear of the property, making it difficult for customers to access the store.

The Government Street store, which was hugely popular with late-night revelers from Mardi Gras and other celebrations, was the company's third "main shop" location built by Joe McAleer, who began the business in 1953 in Prichard. He then moved the shop to the Loop area in 1956 and again to the Government Street store in 1971.

For the last 40 years, Krispy Kremes have been produced and distributed from the Government Street location for wholesale customers from Biloxi and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to Jackson, Alabama, and Gulf Shores. The wholesale segment generated over 80 percent of the total business, according to a company news release. The remaining 20 percent came from direct retail sales and fundraising.

The facility could produce up to 1,000 dozen doughnuts per hour.