The Inglewood chain's Santa Clara debut is the first of at least four Randy's stores planned for the county, and the new shop is built to double as the commissary kitchen feeding them. Opening day drew a line reported at more than 500 people.

Randy's Donuts opened its first Bay Area location Friday morning, July 31, at 2595 Homestead Rd in Santa Clara — and it chose its corner deliberately. The Inglewood chain, a Southern California fixture since 1952, sits directly across Homestead Road from Stan's Donut Shop, the family-run counter that has fried the neighborhood's donuts since April 1959.

The grand opening drew a line reported at more than 500 people to a 7 a.m. start, according to NBC Bay Area and KTVU; the shop handed out free glazed raised doughnuts to customers who came before noon. The franchise behind the store is Sweet Rings LLC, a Bay Area group led by Adeel Siddiqui — a 17-year local restaurant operator whose portfolio includes Port of Peri Peri — with co-owner Ausaf Masud on the record about the crosstown rivalry. Sweet Rings has signed a multi-store deal: ABC7 reported four Randy's locations planned for Santa Clara County, with additional outposts slated for San Jose, Fremont and Redwood City. The Santa Clara store is built to double as a commissary kitchen supplying those future rooms.

The room itself is a study in what a suburb will and won't allow. Santa Clara did not permit Randy's signature 32-foot rooftop doughnut; the store went up with a smaller sculpture instead, per NBC Bay Area, and a drive-through was built but is not operating under local rules. The address has churned before — the space last held a Chinese restaurant, Top Chef, and a KFC before that.

Across the street, Stan's is not going anywhere. Founded by WWII veteran Stanford Wittmayer and his wife, Florence "Tina," at 2628 Homestead Rd, it is now run by their daughter, Julie Clark — still cash-and-check only, open 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., turning out a reported 7,000 donuts a day. Masud told KTVU the group "did not want to tap into Stan's customer base," framing the arrival as healthy competition. Whether a 66-year-old counter needs a neighbor is a question Homestead Road will answer one glazed dozen at a time.