On Jan. 29, 2026, Vincent Van Doughnut announced it would be closing until further notice. Their online presence went silent after that, though many supporters stayed close, anticipating the next update from the beloved neighborhood doughnut shop in the Grove.
On March 5, 2026, Vincent Van Doughnut broke the silence many customers awaited, but with an update few anticipated. Owner Michael McKinlay shared that they would be reopening that following Saturday. In addition to the announcement of new additions and changes to their menu was a vulnerable acknowledgement of his absence through a series of videos. McKinlay shared that in October 2025, he had attempted to take his own life.
After being discharged from the hospital with two broken backbone vertebrae, a fractured neck, cracked sternum, broken nose and stitches across his face, McKinlay attempted to return to Vincent Van Doughnut only 14 days later.
Still healing from his injuries, McKinlay leaned on his wife, Jordan, and the rest of his family for support, including his dad, who lifted flour bags to help around the shop. McKinlay also leaned on his friends, many of whom are other small-business owners in St. Louis.
“I reached out to some very serious, heavy hitters. When you’re in a small business and you do what you’re doing, it becomes really hard because it’s all on you,” McKinlay said. “A lot of people think about businesses and look at a shop and say, ‘Oh, that’s Vincent Van Doughnut.’ But there’s that one person that’s doing it. When I went down, I very much had to recalculate, reorganize and rebuild. And it was very hard.”
McKinlay received incredible support in response and thanked several business owners in the community in his post, including Serge Patel of Crimson Serpents, Scott Carey of Sump Coffee, Ted Wilson of Union Loafers, and Dan Porzel aka “Dan the Man” of Sauce on the Side.
It wasn’t long before the realities of being a business owner set in, which required more of him than he was capable of providing at the time.
McKinlay took to Instagram to share that they’d be closed until further notice, while he focused on the break he needed.
McKinlay spent a lot of time with his son, Logan, in the in-between time. He also kept making doughnuts, but instead of the nine-hour process to produce 700 from-scratch doughnuts, he limited the consumers.
“I had a phenomenal time being a stay-at-home dad. I started coming in here with Logan and I put up trash bags to close off all the windows. And I just made doughnuts for us,” McKinlay said. “I really do love what I do.”
McKinlay acquired ownership of Vincent Van Doughnut in 2024 from Vincent Brian Marsden, the original operator and founder, though McKinlay’s love for doughnuts began in New York. While working as a general manager at Dean & DeLuca in SoHo, Manhattan. McKinlay would indulge in doughnut creations, like tres leches, delivered daily from Doughnut Plant for the store.
“It was just audaciously beautiful. And then Vincent shows up here in the Grove, and this is a whole different situation. He never tried to make doughnuts that everyone loved – he just tried to make doughnuts, and that’s incredible. I loved everything he was doing. It was beautiful. It all clicked.”
Marsden advised McKinlay to never look at customer comments online because of how easy it would be to feel discouraged. But when McKinlay decided to dedicate time every morning to reading comments aloud to his son, the opposite happened.
“It seems this is more of a community than a doughnut shop. I’ve watched kids grow up here. I’ve watched parents become parents. I’ve watched couples become married. I’ve done weddings. I’m a very big part of a lot of people’s lives – I didn’t understand at all,” McKinlay said. “And so once we closed the doors, it became really evident how much everyone wanted me to come back and how much this whole thing means so much to so many people. That was a huge realization.”
When McKinlay reopened the doors on Saturday, March 7, dozens of customers filled the store and overflowed into a line down the street and into Sauce on the Side.
“It was a very emotional day because so many customers grabbed me and hugged me. The full support was there. It was packed in here,” McKinlay said. “Every single person was trying to build me back.”
The reopened doors marked a new chapter for Vincent Van Doughnut. With changes to their latest lease allowing them to carry baked goods, Vincent Van Doughnut is now the only bakery in the Grove.
“I’m really focusing on dialing in some different recipes that have been the recipes here for a decade, so we have to update some things. And then on top of that, the economy has changed,” McKinlay said. “We’ll carry Union Loafers bagels and probably their bread. So the new menu will be lots of doughnuts, bagels with schmear, bagel sandwiches, the whole coffee menu, and build from that.”
Less of a sit-down-style café, McKinlay likes the concept of a doughnut shop because of how intentional it is to go out of your way, grab what you want and leave, similar to a bodega-style format. Reminiscing on one of New York’s best offerings – a bodega on every corner – McKinlay dreams of creating a similar space for his doughnut shop in the Grove, historically known for its nightlife.
Vincent Van Doughnut’s new hours are 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, or until sold out. McKinlay wants to be more closely attuned to the community in this new chapter.
“Tell me in a constructive way what the community needs. If you have legitimate ideas about what I can provide, let’s do that. We need to make this a spot where you get what you need in the morning,” McKinlay said.
Despite everything McKinlay went through, the support from the community never went away – that, and his passion for doughnuts.