Almost three weeks after Bunnell’s Donut Hut in Albert Lea closed its doors, the group formerly known as the Donut Hut Social Club is adjusting to meeting at a new location.

The group, made up of more than a dozen retired men who meet each morning to drink coffee, eat rolls and socialize, is now meeting at Blondies Grille next to Skyline Plaza.

“We didn’t like that it closed, but we didn’t have a choice,” said one of the men, Ron Felt.

“But they’re bending over backwards for us here,” Bill Myers added.

The group initially started meeting 10 years ago when the Donut Hut was across Main Street where the Kwik Trip is now. The Donut Hut swapped locations with Kwik Trip in February of 2002.

Now, sometimes as many as 20 men come out every morning.

When word of the closure of the Donut Hut came about, Carly Solland, owner of Blondies Grille, said she decided she wanted to give the men a small-town, café feel like what they were used to.

Her mother, Mary Umstead, the owner of the Mary-Go-Round Shoppe, dressed up as Mae West, went down to the Donut Hut and gave each of the men a personal invitation to come to Blondies after the Donut Hut closed.

Solland said she knew that Helen and Bruce Bunnell, the owners of the Donut Hut, were in business for many years, and she wants to strive to be like that someday.

She rearranged her restaurant to accommodate the men and make them feel more at home, she said.

“They’re great guys,” Solland said. “I look forward to seeing them, and I’m starting to know them all by name.”

The men said all of Solland’s work has paid off. She’s doing a great job to accommodate, they said, and they appreciate it.

Regardless of where they meet, however, the men still enjoy giving each other a hard time, having a couple laughs and talking about current events.