After almost 19 years of business, popular campus eatery Baker's Too, 12 University Square, will close its doors for the final time March 11.
Co-owners and sisters Deborah Henry and Darlene Phillips have decided to push ahead with a full move to their other store, The Copper Gable, 437 W. Gorham St.
The move is mainly due to the impending renovations of University Square.
Henry said she did not want the burglary that significantly damaged the store to define its closing, adding that the damage sustained only moved up the closing of Baker's Too by 'about a week.'
'I couldn't just put a sign on the window and say, 'Bye bye, come visit us at our new store,'' Henry said. 'Some of my customers I have had for 18-and-a-half years. A lot of those people I probably will never see again. I had to physically say goodbye.'
Moving has long been on the minds of Henry and Phillips, who have been planning a complete move to The Copper Gable for over a year.
'We said, 'Well, what are we going to do''? Henry said. 'This was probably a year ahead of what we wanted to do, but [the Copper Gable property] was an opportunity that I think we couldn't afford to turn down.'
The pair does not plan to move back into the redeveloped University Square.
'Who is going to set up shop for two years or whatever it takes to develop this property and then come back'? Henry asked. 'Don't get me wrong, it's going to be beautiful, but I think what's going to be in here are chains. It is not going to be a place where a small-business owner, unless they have a lot of capital behind them, is going to be operating.'
The U.S. Post Office branch at 22 University Square hopes to permanently remain at its new State Street location, according to Verona supervisor Gene Baker, who oversees the University Square branch.
John Krystofiak, manager of Choles Floral, 9 University Square, is also preparing for redevelopment and a move away from University Square.
'We'll see how the new location goes, and if we like it and love it, we might just stay there,' Krystofiak said.
