After 48 Years, The German Bakery is Closing
Decatur Metro | January 15, 2010John Kessler reports that The German Bakery, which sits floating in a sea of strip malls on a small side-street off Lawrenceville Highway up by the Home Depot, is closing its doors forever tomorrow after 48 years in business.
And judging by Kessler’s conversation with the owner, it doesn’t sound like a voluntary retirement…
“I hate to be leaving, but there’s really not much I can do,” said owner Gary Welshons, when reached by telephone. “It’s been a rough couple of years.”
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What? There was a German Bakery around here? I honestly had no idea. Our family has German heritage and we’ve driven up to Helen a few times for the amazing German bakery up there. If I knew about this place, I certainly would have been a frequent customer.
I hate that it’s closed before we even discovered it.
That’s part of the problem- I knew about it and knew it was great but the location was so hidden and such a pain in der Arsch. There are so many bakeries around that are easy to find and so many new people around who would have loved this gem that they really should have advertised and/or moved somewhere more visible, ya know.
There are German baked goods in Stone Mountain, too.
Part of a restaurant, apparently.
Haven’t gone myself, but I hear good things:
6655 James B. Rivers Drive, Stone Mountain, 30083
(770) 498-0329
Nellie, are there really that many bakeries around that actually sell bread? Alons, H&F, and the German one that Barry mentioned above, which I believe has had some issues in the past, are the only local ones I know of.
I have heard rumor of recent efforts by someone in Decatur looking into opening a bakery, but until that time I’d be curious to know where people buy their favorite breads in the Atlanta metro.
(And speaking of German bakeries…why can’t Americans pull off grocery stores with an insanely good bakeries just inside the entrance like in Germany?)
No, there really aren’t, but so many groceries stores sell decent bread now and not just loaves of Wonder that I don’t think people are much going to go out of their way to dig up little shops, no matter how much nicer the product. I am very sad about this little shop
Plus, the German Bakery had lots of sweets and things, which seems to be my first thought when it comes to bake shops! And the Decatur area now has so many shops at least partially devoted to cakes and cookies and such
Oh and the Australian Bakery in East Atlanta makes bread and so does Highland Bakery in Old Fourth Ward.
There’s a Great Harvest on Briarcliff. I know the one in Duluth better, and their stuff is really good – they ground their own grain every day.
How they grind grain in the past tense every day is a mystery of both time and grammar, but it’s a beautiful thing to had watched. You should really saw it in action yourself some day.
Then, I wished I would haved.
I have never not appreciated things done in the past, and wished that more things done in the past were doing today. Grain that was ground yesterday is something I could do myself if I had the time yesterday to bake tomorrow.
LOOKING FOR BREAD? As a breadaholic who refuses to drive to Alons (unlike my wife), I go to The Mercantile (hip market on Dekalb in Lake Claire. http://www.themercantileatl.com/
Their French baguettes come “par-baked” frozen from Tribeca Oven, NYC. The Mercantile bakes fresh batches throughout the day, so they’re often warm. Price is $3.29 per loaf. Crusty, flavorful with lots of spongy air holes. Picture here: http://www.tribecaoven.com/p_baguettes.html
Some customers buy the bread frozen and bake it themselves. Enjoy.
will miss the cheese danish rings….. and the old fashioned mom and pop bakery, and reasonable prices….
This is a shame, as I really didn’t know about this place, but would have gone if I had been aware of it. I just told my husband this news, and he responded with “I noticed that place and assumed that it was already closed.” If only the owner had put an ad up on Decatur Metro!
Oh man, really? I saw that place all the time, ’cause we eat at Madras Grill (in the shopping center right across the way) pretty regularly. That’s a shame.
Wondering
What happened to this week’s Free For All Friday?
It was a great, great bakery. Excellent cakes. As noted, however, the location made the place v
very hard to see from the street.
I patronized this place for almost five years and sent hundreds of dollars of business to the german bakery in the early 90s until one of the owners/servers gave me a really unpleasant experience — they basically screwed up my order … when I got upset, and i’m not talking ugly, just feeling like i was being taken advantage of, they said they didn’t want my business and yelled “next” ala soup nazi, and I am not kidding. (it was for a child’s birthday cake) I was not as cranky then as I am now, but as I talked to other people, there were similar incidents that were basically, take it or leave it. with their orders …I had been a loyal patron, but after that incident in 1997, I have never gone back, and I’ve told countless people that there are better places to buy your cakes and breads.
Cranky… so they had a german attitude to go with the german baked goods?
Whoa! The “attitude” you refer to was never ever a part of MY German family. “Attitude” is an acquired trait, not cultural.
Oops!
Just found this week’s Free For All Friday.