A Bristol bakery known for its support for social justice is now closed. Saturday was the last day it was open after getting a wave of customer support earlier this year.
“It’s sad, but we’re ready to move on to our next adventure.”
The doors are now closed at the Bakery on Maple in Bristol. For three years, owner Erika Stirk and her husband put their heart and soul into the business.
“We had a lot of our regulars that came to say their goodbyes, to get their last bite of sweet treats,” she said.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
Treats that were nearly all gone after customers bought them up.
“I had a lot of littles, young kids come in say thank you and that they were going to miss me,” she said.
Stirk nearly had to close up shop earlier this year until a Facebook post helped keep her bakery afloat.
Local
“I’m still baffled about the amount of support we got from Bristol and surrounding towns and even across the United States. We had people reach out from Colorado and California,” Stirk said.
The bakery was known for its support for social justice and its pride flag in the store front.
“I wanted a place where everybody was welcome, no matter who you are, what color you are, who you loved. I don’t care,” she said.
But Stirk made a post on Facebook earlier this week saying it unfortunately had to close its doors. She says the overhead costs just became too much for her and her husband as a two-person crew to continue running the bakery.
“It’s getting to be a headache. It’s a little too much for two people to take on,” she said.
Stirk says however, it was a good run, but still intends on continuing to bake with a subscription box-based model in the future.
“You can get them delivered. We’re looking at either weekly or monthly,” she said.
She’s also having no regrets in her decision to close.
“If you have a dream, just go for it. I don’t think it’s a failure. I think we won here. We went out. We did it and we’re going to continue doing it,” Stirk said.
