SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — After operating its location in Carolina Beach for 70 years, the famed Britt’s Donuts name will be expanding into South Carolina by fall, according to owner Lynn Prusa.
It’s been quite an emotional business season for Prusa, whose family has owned Britt’s Donuts since the 1970s, though it’s been operational since 1939. After taking over the business from her parents Bobby and Maxine Nivens, Prusa, her daughters and extended family and friends have kept the shop open on the Carolina Beach Boardwalk in the absence of her father, who unexpectedly passed away last October.
“We talked about expanding through the years, even in recent years,” Prusa said, explaining her dad’s health and energy declined and growing the business never worked out. “In recent years, he would say: ‘It’s not my decision to make. These are decisions that you and Mom will make.’”
Nivens was happy with the six-month operating schedule — Britt’s opens each April and closes every September — which allowed his family to travel every down season, as he detailed to Port City Daily in 2021. Prusa said her husband and daughters, Halyn and Bobbi, would join them frequently.
“And every time we traveled, Dad would toy with the idea of opening a shop elsewhere. He would say: ‘I would like to see one in every state,’” she added.
South Carolina will be the first state to house a secondary Britt’s location — in Charleston at 32 N. Market St. Formerly a candy store, it will be situated next to the iconic Charleston City Market — a stone’s throw from where cruise ships dock and tourists set afoot along historic cobblestone streets.
Located in the historic Harriott Pinckney Home for Seamen and Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, in the early part of the 20th century, the structure served sailors looking to worship.
Prusa said her daughter, Halyn, found the space and encouraged her mother in the spring about visiting The Holy City for consideration of the expansion. Hesitant to jump into another business venture, particularly while operating the first season without her father — and still grieving his absence — Prusa said she wasn’t confident in the timing.
“But when I walked into the store, it just felt right,” she recalled, indicating a familiar presence there. “It’s like I could feel him; I just knew we would not have found such a perfect location again.”
The Charleston store won’t be a franchised operation rather owned by the family. In the past, Prusa said she and her Dad had discussed locations in Myrtle Beach, Florida, Wrightsville Beach, and even downtown Wilmington. Nivens told Port City Daily four years ago, at one time there was a second location downtown, open during World War II to serve shipyard workers, but it closed in the mid 1950s.
“And we aren’t ruling out those places in the future,” Prusa added. “But when we found Charleston, I thought: ‘I can either walk away from this now or I can go into it with the same spirit that my mom and dad did.”
Nivens started working at Britt’s in high school in 1954 before he joined the Airforce. He became friends with his former boss and stayed in touch while stationed abroad. Upon returning stateside, Nivens worked for a chemical company, but in 1972 Nivens told his wife, Maxine, he was taking out a loan to buy the donut shop after his former employer, H.L. Britt, came to him with an offer to sell.
Prusa wanted to extend a new business opportunity to a young person the same as Mr. Britt offered her dad, who was 29 when he took over. Twenty-eight-year-old Sean Marsell will be the Charleston general manager — a former student employee who began making donuts at the Carolina Beach shop at age 15. He takes pride in the fact the family asked him to step into a leadership position.
“Britt’s had a big impact on me growing up,” Marsell said, expressing gratitude to the Nivens who taught him to put family at the center of all operations. “I worked alongside them for the example they set and everything they taught me. When the family asked me to help lead the Charleston shop, I saw it as an opportunity to carry that tradition into a new community while staying true to what has always made it special.”
Prusa said her daughter, Halyn — “our Energizer bunny” — has been working with contractors and lining up rehabilitation of the Charleston shop. The family is securing the same style of equipment as the flagship Britt’s utilizes. The fryer, glazer and other gear at Carolina Beach’s store are the same relics as when it opened in the ‘30s, with only a few part repairs needed throughout the years.
“None of it’s machine-made, so it takes people,” Prusa said of the donut recipe that remains the same as when Britt’s first opened; it also remains known by only a select few people.
All donuts are made by hand, with more than a dozen workers creating the dough, rolling out each circle by hand then deep frying and glazing them. Most employees are high-school and college students who have summer’s off, when Britt’s is open daily. The shoulder season truncates to weekend hours, pre-Memorial Day and post-Labor Day, when students are back in school.
“And when we start having football tryouts and practices and kids return to college — and we encourage all of our young people to remain active — it affects business, too, and that’s why we drop back our hours,” Prusa added.
As indicated by Nivens’ early days at the store, having youth run Britt’s has always been a part of the business model. Prusa said the culture has been family-owned and -bred, with employees also becoming chosen extended family. Prusa is an only-child and Britt’s is where she worked in her youth and met her best friend Dawn Johnson.
“We actually met at Carolina Beach Elementary School in the first grade,” Prusa said.
The bond grew further as the two women worked together in three-decade careers for the Town of Carolina Beach before retirement (Mayor Lynn Barbee also worked at Britt’s). Today, Prusa and Johnson are back behind the same counter, giving hundreds of bags of donuts to customers on a daily basis — or at the very least running operations behind the scenes.
“She is like my sister. And I couldn’t have gotten through this season without her — or my girls and family, including my mom,” Prusa said. “We know a lot, but we are also learning a lot. But we are a family of very strong women and I told Dad we would be looking after Mom. And we are — she is very loved. … Parents are very special and this has been a hard transition, but now we have something positive to look forward to.”
At Port City Daily, we aim to keep locals informed on top-of-mind news facing the tri-county region. To support our work and help us reach more people in 2026, please, consider helping one of two ways: Subscribe here or make a one-time contribution here.
We appreciate your ongoing support.
