WINDHAM – Shoppers seeking good deals on Hostess pastry and bread products were enjoying a bittersweet moment this week as North Windham’s J.J. Nissen Bakery Outlet was showcasing huge discounts on the soon-to-be-gone treats.

Next week, thanks to the recent collapse of Hostess Brands, the outlet store located near the corner of River Road and Route 302 could close its doors after 15 years in business.

While they were scooping up boxes of iconic Twinkies, Cup Cakes and loaves of Wonder Bread, longtime customers were visibly troubled about the impending closing date, which store management said could come as soon as Friday, Nov. 30.

Carol Ferrante of Windham was shopping for her mother-in-law on Tuesday and had already been in the previous day for herself. Ferrante was surprised by the number of shoppers in the store Tuesday morning.

“I know a lot of people don’t eat that many sweets, but they’re up here buying them out. Isn’t that interesting?” she said.

Manager Theresa Joyce, who has worked at the store for 15 years, said customer count had been up in recent days since the much-publicized Hostess strike, which began Nov. 9 and crippled the company’s ability to do business. But sales have been brisk, with almost double the amount of customers each day. One customer came in and purchased $92 worth of product, “our biggest sale,” Joyce said.

Joyce said the store’s closing is affecting a lot of people, more so than she ever expected.

“I’m going to miss the people. A lot of good people have come in through the years, so that’s very sad,” she said. “Hugs, crying and everything, it’s been very emotional for us. We’re going to miss them, but we didn’t realize how much we’ve affected their lives, too, on a personal level.”

On Tuesday morning, many more hugs were shared, and many jokes as well, to help lighten the mood. Frank Myers, a longtime customer who has come to the store for years, told Joyce on the way out, “Don’t forget, I’m your best customer.”

The store, Joyce added, also has been a help to economically disadvantaged or frugal folks taking advantage of factory-direct pricing on bread and pastries.

“It helps the community around here because some of them are poor people and this helps them out, so that’s very sad, too,” Joyce said.

Shoppers were sharing the same sentiment.

Casco residents Dana and Linda Manchester came to the bakery outlet regularly. Dana is a contractor, between jobs, and he and Linda relied on the store for cheap eats.

“The contracting business is gone, and we could come in here and fill a cart for $20 and my daughter would be all set for school snacks all week long,” Dana Manchester said. “This sucks that they’re leaving.”

“This is sad, I can’t believe it. I’m just totally shocked. Why? I don’t understand why. Been coming here a long time,” added Linda Manchester. “And we only get so much money. We come here, they take food stamps. So what are we going to do?”

Julie Wright of Windham, who shopped for more than a decade at the outlet store, was shopping with her sister, Joanne Intrieri, also of Windham, on Tuesday. She was similarly discouraged, mainly because the products were a tasty tradition in the Wright family.

“I’m just so disappointed that it’s over. And I didn’t even know that Drake’s was part of it, too. It’s not just Hostess, there are so many more brands,” Wright said with a grocery cart filled with Drake’s Devil Dogs and Hostess Twinkies.

Windham’s bakery outlet received shipments of factory-direct products as well as product nearing its best-by or sell-by dates, hence the cheaper prices.

“They have excellent deals. You can get three loaves of bread for like $2. Or the really good bread, four loaves for $3, something like that. So I do my regular shopping down there,” Wright said pointing toward North Windham’s supermarkets, “and get all my bread stuff up here.”

“And the kids had them all through school,” she added with fond memories of her children and their friends enjoying the pastry products as an afternoon snack. “Let’s just say this store was a staple.”

Al Battone of Bridgton was in Windham Tuesday picking up some items. He said the discounted products were a help for disadvantaged folks.

“I’ve been shopping here for years, and it’s a shame they’re actually closing down. You’ll find some of the best bargains here,” Battone said. “Most people don’t understand that even if it has a line through it or a sell-by date, which is required by law, it doesn’t mean that the product is bad. Most people don’t understand that.

“A lot of people come here and buy the products, because they’re still good. And it serves the community because most people who can’t afford to buy a $3 loaf of bread can come here and get it for $1.50, so it’s absolutely horrible that they’re closing down.”

Jackie Roux, shopping Tuesday during a lunch break, had her husband, Ray Roux, in mind.

“The Twinkies, they’re going under the Christmas tree. My husband’s been salivating for Twinkies. He’s been looking all over. And I will ship some to my son in Phoenix,” said Roux, who’s been coming to store since it opened 15 years ago.

“It’s sad, very sad,” she added. “I hope somebody buys the company and revitalizes the brand. I didn’t realize this store was affiliated [with Hostess]. I don’t know why, I just never made the connection.”

Other will miss the people working in the store just as much as the products.

“I want them to stay. I love them. These girls are awesome,” Windham resident Sally Annance said of Joyce and longtime clerk Nancy Fowler. “I’ve been coming to this store for years. I’m going to miss it.”

Nancy Gleason, who has shopped at the outlet for 10 years, was aiming to stock her freezers for the future. She was also taking advantage of deals of paper towels and other non-pastry products such as bread that she uses to feed her chickens. She said she is going to miss the employees.

“I’ve known these women for years,” Gleason said. “That bothers me more than anything, that it’s hurting them. I won’t see them anymore. I love to shop local and this kills me, because we’re in here at least three or four times a month.”

Gleason, like many who wonder about the future of the company, is hoping that “someone will buy up their brands. We grew up with it.”

According to a Nov. 21 press release, issued on the company’s website, Hostess Brands will take three to four months to “wind down” completely. The Windham outlet store is one of 570 throughout the country to be shut down. Of the original 18,500 employees, 15,000 of whom were unionized, 3,500 Hostess workers remain on the job via a court order helping with the wind-down. About 95 percent of those employees, the press release indicates, will lose their jobs within three or four months. The company expects to be completely closed within a year.

There are murmurs of a potential buyer for the brands but no offers have been publicized.

“The customers are hoping,” Joyce said. “They keep asking us, is there a chance? I don’t know. I do know that we are officially going to be done here. But maybe someone will buy it and look into an outlet location again here.”

Until then, Twinkies, Devil Dogs, Cup Cakes, Sno Balls, Ding Dongs, HoHos and Wonder Bread will live on on the Internet. A few weeks ago, when word quickly spread of the impending closure, the brand’s signature product, the Hostess Twinkie, was going for thousands of dollars per package. Similar speculators are also coming into the Windham store in hopes of a sweet score.

“Oh yes, they have been coming in to buy especially Twinkies as an investment. That’s the first thing they want is the Twinkies. We sold out of them the first day when we put everything 50 percent off. And then now again since we got another shipment this week, they’re buying them right up,” Joyce said just as a customer came up and asked where the Twinkies were.

“Twinkies are right over there,” she joked. “You can put them on eBay.”

put everything 50 percent off. And then now again since we got another shipment this week, they’re buying them right up,” Joyce said just as a customer came up and asked where the Twinkies were.

“Twinkies are right over there,” she joked. “You can put them on eBay.”

Sally Annance of Windham got a few bags of pastry and bread products from the J.J. Nissen’s Bakery Outlet store in Windham Tuesday morning.