Tradin' Twinkies

The Craigslist ad is pretty tempting.

A photo of the bounty provided, a Coeur d'Alene resident is offering six boxes of Twinkies, 10 per box, for just $30.

"Just bought at time of announcement that Twinkies no longer made, two weeks ago," the online ad entices.

The description touts Twinkies as a product of the "real Americana days," and hails the snack cake's decades-long popularity. Plus, it promises, the product has a 5,000 year shelf life.

"These will last a lifetime," the ad promises, noting that shipping and handling is $6 to $8.

That's among the cheaper of Hostess stockpiles hawked online in the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene region. Some sellers are demanding hundreds of dollars for Twinkies and Ding Dongs, one even calling them "collectibles."

So it appears that after the apocalypse hits, at least some will have the everlasting snacks to live on.

Here's the tragic chronology.

Following Hostess Brands Inc.'s bankruptcy and announced closure, Jewel-Osco reported earlier this month that the grocery chain had received the last shipment of Hostess products in the country.

That means store shelves nationwide, including in Kootenai County, have emptied of the soft and gooey staples of children's lunch boxes, like Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, SnoBalls, Donettes.

And, of course, Twinkies, the golden, cream-filled torpedoes with mythical expiration date.

Many were eager to avoid the sugar withdrawal.

"The weekend that they announced they were no longer in business, we sold out (of Hostess products)," said Hannah Symons, manager at Fairway Food and Gas.

She had a simple theory why.

"Because they're Hostess," Symons said with a laugh, adding that she will miss the tradition of the snack cakes more than the taste. "They were afraid they weren't going to be able to get their Twinkies."

Most customers filling their arms with Hostess boxes didn't strike her as financially motivated, Symons added, though she's heard of a few Twinkie postings on eBay.

"I didn't see anybody saying, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to save them for three years,'" she said.

Yet when Tim Riordan of Post Falls heard that Hostess products were no longer being produced, he said, he headed out to stockpile snack cakes "right away."

Even then Riordan found the Hostess shelves pretty bare, he added.

"I knew they would be a rare commodity," said Riordan, 24, an avid follower of collectible items.

He quickly sold six boxes for $20 apiece on Craigslist and Amazon.com, he said.

The last box, he said, he plans to hold onto for himself.

"I definitely grew up with them, taking them for lunch every day," Riordan explained.

Dalton Market has now replaced Hostess products with Dolly Madison desserts, said employee Zella Sweitzer.

Although the prices are the same, the transition was tough for some, she acknowledged.

"Some people were buying (Hostess snacks) like crazy," Sweitzer said.

Some weren't as excited, she added, due to feelings over the nature of the company's collapse.

"Some didn't buy 'em because they were upset about Hostess being gone," she said.

Ron McIntire, owner of Super 1 Foods, said his chain's final stock of Hostess products flew off the shelves because everyone wanted to share in the brand's grand finale.

"My daughter even bought some, just because they were going away," McIntire said. "(She bought) a couple of boxes of everything. Of course the kids ate it all up at once."

Hostess desserts had always been popular at his stores, he said, not just because of taste, but legacy, too.

"People remember them when they were little kids," McIntire said. "I do. I remember them when they were a nickel."

Worry not, McIntire said. He predicted that at least Twinkies would still live on, maybe under a tweaked title, once Hostess factories and recipes are gobbled up by other companies.

"They'll be around," he said.

In the meantime, Hostess' closure is almost as historic as its long success.

"This is the economics of the world," McIntire said.