On Monday, Crumbs Bake Shop, a New York-based bakery chain, closed all of its stores abruptly. The news has shocked employees, who were not given much notice.

"Regrettably Crumbs has been forced to cease operations and is immediately attending to the dislocation of its devoted employees while it evaluates its limited remaining options," Crumbs told Wall Street Journal in a statement.

According to the newspaper, a spokeswoman said the bakery company is considering filing for bankruptcy.

New York Daily News reports that at one point Crumbs had 70 stores worldwide, making it the biggest global cupcake company. Since 2012, however, the company has closed dozens of its stores. Only July 1, Nasdaq Stock Market dropped Crumbs and refused "to trade any more shares," according to the newspaper.

Although Crumbs' statement promises to help its former employees, the workers say they were warned that they face unemployment.

"I came into work today: I'm happy, I'm skipping to work, and suddenly I don't have a job," Kareem Wegman, who has been a Crumbs employee for two years, told WSJ.

Crumbs has 48 stories in 10 different states. Its employees were notified of the stores' closing on Monday afternoon via telephone.

"It's a real curveball for us," a manager of a Brooklyn Crumbs told New York Post. "Normally, you get two weeks' notice when you're closing down. You don't get one-day notice."

Despite the announcement, NY Daily News reports that a couple of stores are still open in New York City. The stores' employees are keeping mum about their good fortune and don't ask questions.

"All I know is we're open right now, and the store is full so I can't talk long," one employee told the newspaper.

According to an anonymous source, the Manhattan district manager isn't receiving phone calls because she turned off her phone.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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