SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Hostess hoarding – Finding Twinkies online, not on shelves
Nov 18, 2012, 6:51 PM | Updated: Nov 19, 2012, 2:06 pm
Only a few packages of Hostess Donettes remain at one Ballard convenience store which generally is fully stocked with racks of Twinkies and other junk foods.(Linda Thomas photo)
(Linda Thomas photo)
You won’t find golden sponge cakes with creamy goodness on store shelves, but there are boxes on eBay and Craigslist going for between $15 and $15 million.
Hours after Hostess announced it was closing its factories, people raided store shelves for Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos and Zingers.
At a Ballard-area convenience store, the shelves are bare except for a few Donettes.
“Do you know where I can find Twinkies?” an older gentleman asks me. “They’re gone from everywhere.”
They’re online.
On eBay and Craigslist, Hostess products are being sold for outrageous amounts.
One listing says, “Calling Mr. Gates” and includes a $15 million bid for a box of Twinkies, with the money supposedly going to a Santa Ana, California charity that helps neglected children.
The retail price for a box of 10 Twinkies is about $5.
Not everyone is selling their treasured Twinkies for an unrealistic price.
“I happened to have an unopened box around and thought it would be fun to sell as a stocking stuffer,” a Seattle woman told me through email. She’s listing “One Box of Fresh Golden cream filled Twinkies. Fresh and Unopened with a sell date of Dec. 12, 2012,” for $5.
Contrary to popular belief, Twinkies don’t last forever. Most bought in stores Friday carry an expiration date of early December.
Twinkies might be back in production by then.
Hostess Brands and its striking union have agreed to mediation talks to try and resolve their differences, meaning the Texas-based baker of Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread isn’t going out of business just yet.
The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court.
The bankruptcy judge hearing the case asked the lawyer for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which has been on strike since November 9, to ask his client if the union would agree to participate.
By LINDA THOMAS
