Marshelle McCoy, the owner of Revival City Doughnuts, said there’s nothing like fresh cut dough in the morning.

She said the success of the store fell into her lap, and she couldn’t believe it.

“It was just the right timing, the right place and we were able to open the doughnut shop,” McCoy said. “It’s nothing but a blessing that we were able to open and that we’re still there.”

In Charleston, there is no place that exclusively sells doughnuts, so McCoy wanted to change that.

“I can focus on doing one thing great. If I opened a bakery, which was my initial thought, I have to do a lot of things great,” McCoy said.

Before Revival City, McCoy learned the ins and outs of the kitchen with her mother, and throughout her life, used these skills to whip up meals out of the smallest of places.

She recalled a story when she would take huge amounts of food to church. 

At the time, she would ride with one of her friends from church. When she would arrive, McCoy would be waiting outside with a mountain of food to bring. She said her friend would always be amazed to see the amount of food she could cook up in her small apartment. 

Cooking in small places once again, in July of 2020, Revival City was born, starting operations out of a 400-square-foot building. 

Charleston Community member Kelly Sparrow said she frequents Revival City, but said this time she was picking up doughnuts for her son, who was having a sleepover. 

She said she’s known McCoy for a long time and loves to support her. 

“I want to support her business because it’s a local business and the fact that the doughnuts are amazing,” Sparrow said.

The staff at Revival City has a lot of creative freedom with the job, being able to mix and match different ingredients to make unique doughnuts.

McCoy said over time the staff has now stopped asking if something would sound good on a doughnut, they just go ahead and experiment. 

Courtney Crowder, the store manager, said working there inspires a lot of creativity, with being able to try out different food combinations on doughnuts is a lot of fun. 

Workers said a lot of doughnuts have come from staff messing around and trying different things out.

Skylar Vickery, an employee for around a month, said the friendly atmosphere is a huge draw compared to working in the food industry. 

I think everybody’s really encouraging,” Vickery said. “I know food service has a rep of being high stress and you’re always having to deal with people, but I feel it’s always positive in here, even when it’s bad out there.”