Sunday was a bittersweet day for Jackie Victor. At her bakery for Avalon International in Midtown Detroit, she helped her employees make coffee her drink and serve loaves of bread and sweet treats to customers.
As Victor prepares to permanently close his flagship store, which opened on Willis Street in 1997, long before Midtown became a trendy spot, Victor said. Now.
The bakery leaves its familiar bright yellow and orange building in Willis, west of Cass, and shares space with Jolly Pumpkin, one block north of Canfield Street.
“We love this space and know how much it means to the community and to us,” Victor said. had to face.”
Families, couples, children and people of all ages came in on Sunday for their final visit to the bakery. The majority had smiles on their faces while taking pictures and choosing desserts to pick up.
The bakery closed at 3pm on Sunday, but people were still lining up at 3:17pm for their last cup of hot chocolate or loaf of bread.
Former Detroit natives Marcus Trammell, 42, and Heidi Witanen, 46, from East Lansing were in town to visit the Van Gogh in America exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts, only to find the bakery closed. I decided to stop by Avalon. original store.
“I really miss this place,” said Witanen. “This is her one of my favorite places and I love the atmosphere.”
According to Trammell, the opening of the store was one of the first signs of change in 1990s Detroit, then known as the infamous Cas Corridor.
“This is one of the early signs of some kind of life in the area,” Trammell said. “I think it was basically an early example of what was possible again in the city.”
Victor remembered Sunday when, in the first year of business, the café’s oven broke down around Christmas time and the repairman was hit by a blizzard in another state. She said the cooler had a lot of uncooked bread and the bakery had a lot of special orders for Christmas. It was one of those moments of panic and confusion for the team, as they said they had just been open since the moon.
“All these people have paid for their orders, but they’re not going to eat the bread,” Victor said. “The door said, ‘The Grinch stole our Christmas. but I will return your order.”
The bread began to fall, so Victor had no choice but to throw it all away. When she was about to throw it in the trash, a customer named Mary White stopped her. I said I would bake it myself at home.
Victor is shocked by the offer, but lets White have the bread. Customers who saw the deal said they bought the freshly baked bread.
“I’m 95 percent sure they[the loaf of fresh bread]were just going to the trash,” Victor said. “They were doing it to protect our pride.” But that was the spirit of the community at that moment.”
Victor credits the community for Avalon’s success, which has grown to include multiple locations including downtown Detroit, Ann Arbor and Royal Oak.Closure of Willis store unaffected of Avalon Elsewhere.
Lovey Young, 29, from Detroit, has been going to the Midtown store since 1998 as a kid. Now that she’s grown up, she had to say goodbye to her parents and places she used to visit with her brother.
“It’s always pizza, hot chocolate, and cookies,” said Young. “I love freshly baked cookies.”
Young says she will miss it.
“I love this place so it’s definitely bittersweet,” she said.
The new Jolly Pumpkin spot will feature a larger kitchen, more Jolly Pumpkin options, and seating for over 60 guests compared to the flagship’s 6 seats.
No opening date has been set for the new location at this time, but an Open Day celebration is underway.
more:Avalon closes and relocates Midtown store for first time in 25 years
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