ANDERSONVILLE — A longtime Andersonville staple announced its closure after 88 years in the neighborhood Thursday.
Swedish Bakery, 5348 N. Clark St., will close on Feb. 28, the bakery announced via Facebook.
"Changing times have dictated an honest evaluation of our business. Based on that review, it is time to call a close and exit the stage. We have enjoyed a good run, but as Chaucer wrote, 'all good things must come to an end,'" the social media post from the Stanton Family and staff said.
The bakery has been in operation since 1928 or 1929.
"With our thanks and gratitude for years of patronage and support from all of our generations of customers, businesses, and neighbors, we are bidding a fond farewell," the post reads.
The bakery is the last Swedish bakery in Chicago and has been a reminder of the neighborhood's Swedish heritage for decades. Customers come from hundreds of miles away to get treats like cardamom coffee cakes and petit fours.
“People come here to really stock up,” said longtime customer Angelika Wolberg back in 2012.
Despite its name, the bakery is now owned by a German-Greek family, has no Swedes on staff and less than one-third of its products are Swedish.
The Stanton family has owned the bakery for nearly 38 years, the post said.
Marlies Stanton, who was born and raised in Germany, started working at the bakery in 1971. She and her husband bought the bakery from Gosta Bjuhr.
Mark Allen, who worked the overnight shift for years beginning in the late '70s, has watched Swedish bakeries disappear over time as it continued to churn out pastries and cakes.
“When I started here, there were four or five Swedish bakeries here. This has been the only one to survive," he said in 2012.
