Sprinkles Cupcakes, the retailer at the forefront of the early-2000s gourmet dessert wave and creator of the cupcake ATM, is closing its stores for good.
Austin, Texas-based Sprinkles is shuttering its remaining 22 retail locations across the country and winding down operations immediately, according to a notice sent to employees and an Instagram post from founder Candace Nelson.
The company drew lines of dessert lovers when it opened its first shop in Beverly Hills, California, in 2005. Its 24-hour cupcake ATMS went viral in 2012, and Sprinkles grew to 31 stores and launched a line of ice cream and cakes.
But the shine faded as tastes shifted, the market flooded with competitors, and a private equity acquisition in 2014 layered the company with debt just as the cupcake craze cooled.
The company's remaining 22 stores range from 500 to 3,000 square feet in size and are mostly in well-occupied, high-end shopping centers like The Grove in Los Angeles, Irvine Spectrum in Orange County and Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, according to CoStar data. Stores are in California, Florida, New York, Texas and Washington, D.C.
The fate of the company's 4,500-square-foot leased headquarters in Austin and an 8,000-square-foot industrial lease in Los Angeles is unclear.
It's also unclear how many ATMs the company operates.
The closures come as national retail leasing has roared back in late 2025, with move-ins hitting their highest six-month total since 2022 and the median time to fill a vacancy plunging to just seven months, according to CoStar data.