Sing Yam, 58, is feeling lemon tart-sugar happy-sad about saying goodbye.
The beloved owner of Rainbow Donuts in West Covina announced her retirement this week, with her last day on Saturday, prompting a steady stream of Rainbow loyalists to drop by for one last sweet visit.
“Right now I’m more sad. I should be happy, but then I’m not. I’ll miss the people of West Covina and how special they make me feel,” said Yam, who is handing the shop over to new owners.
Her customers say the same. Rainbow fans include West Covina Councilmember Ollie Santos, who helped serenade Yam on her birthday last May and even held meet and greets at the shop after he was elected.
Yam was only 20 years old and a newlywed when she bought what was then a Yum-Yum Donut shop in the South Hills Plaza shopping center on Azusa Avenue. She had no credit history, so Yum-Yum Donut served as a guarantor so she could lease the building.
“I remember it was a lot of work to build up my business,” Yam said. Open seven days a week, with nary a holiday, Yam would report to work at 2 a.m. and clock out at 3 p.m.
“I only really went home to shower and sleep,” the Diamond Bar resident said.
But now that her two children are grown and a grandson is expected to be born next month, Yam is bidding farewell to 37 sweet years in business. More than 350 people online have chimed in with their Rainbow Donuts memories. All are welcome to a party at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 1, in front of the store at 1432 S. Azusa Avenue, “just to come and say, ‘We love Sing,’” said longtime customer Dave Herrig.
Herrig, 77, still makes the daily trip to Rainbow Donuts even after he and his wife Evelyn moved to Pomona. While he was still working as an electronic medical records trainer, Herrig would stop by for coffee on the way to work. On Saturday mornings, he would stop in while taking his dog for a walk.
“After I retired, I came over every day,” he said. “I admire her friendliness and her work ethic. She is one strong person. She’ll tell me sometimes, ‘I’m not very smart,’ and I’ll say, ‘What?’ She can handle selling Lotto tickets and doing the calculations when a person turns in winning tickets, and at the same time wait on two or three other customers. She does it all so well.”
Herrig said the myriad regulars who come in like clockwork every day or every week is treated to the same “Sing Sunshine.”
“She sees you coming across the parking lot and she’ll have your order ready by the time you walk in,” Herrig said. “Her memory for names is just amazing.”
The proof is in the donuts, too.
“Her donuts are light and fluffy and not too sweet. I recommend the raspberry-filled donuts, cream puffs, chocolate donut with peanut sprinkles — and for breakfast, a bacon, egg and cheese croissant.”
So loyal are Yam’s customers more than 5,000 of them signed a petition opposing the opening of a Dunkin’ Donuts one store down from her business in 2016. When the offending store still opened in 2018, Yam was philosophical: “I didn’t beat them but I won a lot of love. I didn’t ever know how much love I had in the community until they came out to support me.”
Herrig sniffs: “Sing has better donuts, and you won’t find her personality over at Dunkin’.”
Owning a donut shop is hard work, Yam admits. She’s gotten so used to the cases of sweets, sandwiches, boba drinks and shakes she hardly overindulges, although she will admit to once in a while partaking of two apple fritters, “always two at a time.”
“I love it here, this is a milestone for me,” Yam said. “I can’t complain. What I’ve learned is, ‘Work hard.’ It pays off.”
Born in Cambodia, Yam was 13 when she, her mother, and three siblings fled the country in 1969 and arrived in the U.S. as war refugees.
“Here is a single mom with four kids, the oldest was only 14 and the youngest was 5, didn’t speak the language, didn’t know anyone, and we survived,” Yam said.
The family settled in Santa Ana, and Yam remembers she and her siblings scrounging in garbage to retrieve aluminum cans for recycling. When she was in high school, Yam helped her mother by sewing hems on T-shirts.
Carlos Inchausti of West Covina goes to the shop for his Lotto tickets, donut and coffee. A customer since 1987, he promises to support the new owners, especially since the same baker will stay on to make the shop’s sweet treats.
“It’s been here so long, it’s part of the community,” Inchausti said. “You come here and you always see someone you know, and the ones you don’t know you start talking to anyway.”
Maria Lujan, 34, of Valinda, was in middle school when her grandfather introduced her to Rainbow Donuts. She has since become a regular too, picking up her favorite maple bars and basking in Yam’s “smile and her joyfulness.”
Lujan’s daughter April, 15, has been raised on visits to the shop. Her favorite is the ham and cheese croissant.
Ron and Frances Cabrera of West Covina dropped by for some sandwiches and chocolate twisters on the way to a doctor’s appointment. Their four sons are also Rainbow afficionados.
“We’re glad to see her today and sad to know she’s leaving,” Frances Cabrera said.
For Herrig, nursing his travel mug of black coffee, the generational ties to the lady he calls “Sunshine” must now make way for a new connection to incoming owners Sam and Kim Chea and their three children.
His advice: “Don’t be shy. Open up.”
As for saying goodbye to Yam, “it’s bittersweet. We’re certainly going to miss her. She’s a good woman.”