Dilla's Delights doughnut shop permanently closed in Detroit, but owners are looking for a new home

Dilla's Delights, the doughnut shop run by the family of the late Detroit hip-hop beatmaker J Dilla, is permanently closed — but the owners say they hope to reopen at a to-be-determined new location.

Owner Herman Hayes, aka "Uncle Herm," says that the business has officially closed for good in the flatiron building at 242 John R Rd. in Detroit in a message posted to Instagram earlier this week.

"We don't quite know which direction we're going to go in and where we're going to be, but, you know, we're working on some things," he says.

"We're looking for a home," he adds. "We're homeless!"

Hayes says that the business is mulling a number of possibilities. "We've got to just figure it out right now," he says.

The shop closed briefly in 2019 while Hayes recovered from cancer, but was only able to reopen for a few months in 2020 before the pandemic hit. The owners had previously said they were planning on moving the business to a larger location after the lease was up anyway, which ends in February.

Hayes is Dilla's uncle, and opened the shop in 2016. Dilla died in 2006 at age 32 after being diagnosed with lupus. His last record was titled Donuts, named after one of his favorite treats.

"We're definitely going to keep doughnuts alive, and Dilla's legacy alive," Hayes says.

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