Amherstburg bookshop owners opening an independent bakery

Ever since relocating to Amherstburg, Richard and Colleen Peddie's shared vision for a vibrant downtown has always included more retail.

They turned thought into action by opening the River Bookshop on Richmond Street last year and now they're expanding the retail footprint around that location.

The Peddies purchased two buildings immediately west of the bookshop and another to the south on Ramsay Street.

The two storefronts on Richmond previously housed a yogurt shop and a travel business while the Ramsay Street building most recently featured a hair salon.

“We need more retail and we want to be able to control the environment around our bookshop,” said Peddie, the former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

While plans for the two spaces on Richmond are still under wraps, they've announced an independent bakery will open this summer on Ramsay.

“When we moved onto Richmond Street there were really only three retailers on this street,” Peddie said of the downtown core section. “That has to tell you we don't have enough retail. So how do you create traffic? Colleen and I determined really early that we wanted to do a bakery.”

Peddie quickly points out they had no interest in personally being the ones to fire up an oven at 3 a.m. each day. So they connected with Amherstburg native Anna Marano and her partner Simon Briggs.

“This is our first go at doing things ourselves,” Marano said. “We've both worked for other people in the industry but now we've been given this unique opportunity.”

Marano and Briggs, who's originally from Scotland, have called their new venture “The Panetteria,” which is Italian for bakery.

“Perhaps the accurate way to describe it is a European style bakery,” Marano said. “When people in North America think of a bakery they think cakes and cookies and that's not what it is.”

She said The Panetteria will offer artisan style breads and French style pastries.

They will also offer takeout sandwiches since the small 570-square foot interior space will not allow for in-person dining.

“We say she's small but mighty,” Marano said.

The building itself is historical although there are no outward design features attesting to its past.

Originally, it served as the waiting room for the Sandwich Windsor and Amherstburg (SW&A) electric railway that ran daily between Windsor and Amherstburg until 1938.

Renderings by architect Jerry Kavanaugh show the bakery's Ramsay Street exposure dominated by large windows outlined in black and a welcoming adjacent alley alcove with chairs, tables and overhead string lighting.

“We inherited the alley,” said Peddie. “I'm a big lover of The Belt in Detroit and Graffiti Alley in Toronto.”

Both those alley projects feature large displays of public art on building walls, patio lighting and seating.

Peddie said a landscaper is designing another space at the west end of the alley but he's not tipping his hand on the purpose just yet.

As for the two storefronts on Richmond, he says both will offer “unique retail.” First, he said contractors will add several storeys to each, giving them a more historical look like the bookshop that now anchors the corner.