A beloved California bakery that has served up candy treats and savory pies for 50 years is closing its doorways for good Sunday, as hovering prices and mounting enterprise pressures take their toll.
Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria, a longtime Berkeley fixture recognized for its fruit danishes, challah, cinnamon twists and vegetarian pizzas, will shut down after many years of serving the Bay Area neighborhood.
Co-owner Sabra Stepak informed SFGate that rising ingredient and utility prices, worker turnover and fierce competitors have made it more and more tough to preserve the enterprise working.
Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria. Facebook/Nabolom Bakery
“It’s something that’s going on with all small businesses,” Stepak said. “Chocolate has increased three times. My PG&E (utilities) has gone up like 70%.”
The information of the closure has sparked a rush of clients hoping to get one last style of the neighborhood favourite.
Nabolom saw a line out the door between 8 and 11 a.m. Friday and offered out of pastries, Stepak said.
“We’ve probably had our most viable days in 10 years, probably three times more than we usually sell,” she said.
The enterprise, which was began as a employee collective in 1976, has weathered monetary bother before.
It nearly closed in 2004 when house owners announced the enterprise was almost $30,000 in debt and two months behind on lease. The bakery tried to keep afloat by taking advance funds for baked items and exploring new choices, including gourmand pizza and dwell occasions.
Nabolom saw a line out the door between 8 and 11 a.m. Friday and offered out of pastries, Stepak said. Facebook/Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria
Nabolom did ultimately shut down in 2015 after several members of the collective left.
A yr later, Stepak and Julia Elliott purchased the enterprise, paid off most of its debt and transitioned it to non-public possession. They revived the bakery and continued serving clients for another decade.
“We’ve agonized over it and we just can’t do it anymore,” she said. “We’re exhausted.” Facebook/Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria
Now, longtime patrons are mourning the loss.
“Without a doubt, the recent incarnation of Nabolom with Julia and Sabra, was THE BEST BAKERY in Berkeley,” one consumer commented. “I have lived in Berkeley for 60 years, and now grieve!”
Stepak said she stays open to promoting the enterprise to someone prepared to preserve it going.
“We’ve agonized over it and we just can’t do it anymore,” she said. “We’re exhausted.”
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