By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — Closing one of Harlem’s most loved bakeries turned out to be a half-baked idea.
Just two weeks after Lee Lee’s Baked Goods closed down, owner Alvin Lee Smalls knew he’d made a big mistake. On Saturday, he reopened his business.
“The two weeks I was gone, oh boy, I didn’t do nothing,” he said.
He added he realized the store, on West 118th Street, had been his life.
The costs, which had gone up as rents around him rose and a health clinic across the street that had provided much of his business closed, suddenly seemed less prohibitive than the thought of not baking anymore.
The reopening was marked with a small display of red balloons – and a line of delighted customers.
"It feels good," said Smalls as he took a break from the kitchen.
To help the bakery survive its economic woes, Denisha Williams, who was working at the store on Saturday, said Smalls planned on putting in a credit card machine, pushing mail orders, launching a new web site and spreading the word through flea markets.
Williams said customers who don't want to come all the way to Harlem for Smalls’ famed rugelach and carrot cake muffins can find them at the Felton Flea Market later this summer.
"He'll do well," said Williams. "You just have to get the right people to support it.
Gil Avital, 46, who said he came to the bakery three times a week since moving down the street two and half years ago, stopped by with his wife and two children after they saw the balloons outside the store.
"He's the best baker in New York," he said.
