The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Eddy’s Bake Shop to close
Owners retiring Aug. 27
ANSONIA » When Fat Tuesday rolls around next year, there may or may not be a 20th Annual paczki-eating contest at 317 Main St. in Ansonia — and if there is, the joint hosting the celebration of the giant, jellyfilled Polish pastries may or may not still be called Eddy’s Bake Shop.
But either way, the Ciocca family, which has built Eddy’s Bake Shop, which it took over 53 years ago, into one of the longest-running and most celebrated baking juggernauts in the Valley — and for that matter the state of Connecticut — will be gone.
Twin brothers Paul and Mike Ciocca, who have been part of the heart and soul of the place since their parents, Americo and Janine Ciocca, took it over in 1967 when the guys were both 7 years old, will retire effective Aug. 27. Why? “We’re tired of working 70-to-80 hours a week,” said Paul Ciocca as a steady steam of customers came in Saturday afternoon for their doughnuts, chocolate drop cookies, cannolis and more elaborate cakes and such — not to mention the rye bread, with or without seeds, that Eddy’s is famous for.
“I don’t hate what I did. But I don’t like the hours,” Ciocca said.
“It’s been a long time. I’ve been here since my dad took over,” Paul Ciocca said. “I was 7 years old.”
Five decades later, “I’m still here,” he said.
Word has been filtering out to Eddy’s legion of customers for about a month now, he said, and a large percentage of the customers know at this point, Paul Ciocca said.
But some still don’t — and a couple of them just learned Saturday when they were asked about it by a reporter as they visited the bakery, located at 317 Main St.
“Where will I go every Easter?” one patron who had heard rumors but hadn’t yet confirmed them asked in a July 16 post on the Eddy’s Bake Shop Facebook page. “I love their raisin cookies, peanut butter bars, chocolate mousse cakes, etc !!!! The best rye bread! Please address the awful rumors!!!”
While the rumors are basically true in that the brothers are retiring, it’s important to know that Eddy’s didn’t begin and may not end with the Cioccas. It had two owners before them — Joe Weber and the original Eddy, who owned it before Weber.
And there is still hope that someone else may step in and take it over, Paul Ciocca said.
But asked whether any of his or his brother’s kids ever considered taking the business over, Ciocca responded, “I wouldn’t let them.”
He doesn’t want his kids to work those kinds of hours, either, he said.
And his son Casey Ciocca, 26, said he’s not interested in taking it over.
“I never wanted it,” Casey said. “I’m just here to help him out.
“I’m happy for him,” he said of his father. “He’s here almost every day — and we barely see him at home.”
Will Casey miss the place?
“No, I’m ready...” he said. “I’m ready for my dad to finally have a life...”
The good news is that while the Ciocca brothers are retiring, it’s not a done deal that the bakery will close, Paul Ciocca said.
“We have a woman who’s interested in buying the place,” Ciocca said, revealing what no doubt will be welcome news to many. “It’s close. So we’re hoping Eddy’s won’t die.”
Ciocca said he’s hoping to be able to make an announcement soon.
If the woman does buy it, they will pass on all the recipes and work with her to get her up to speed on how they do what they do, he said.
But either way, he said, the place will be fully stocked until the day they’re done — and will have some enticing specials on rye bread and other goods during their last week.
Meanwhile, Casey Ciocca is starting to transition into a new career, He recently got a job at the Starbucks in Seymour, he said.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” Casey Ciocca said. “Some of these people have been coming here for so long ... Some of them have known me since I was a little kid.”
Sophie Kuczynski is one of them.
“There’s not another bakery like Eddy’s,” said Kuczynski, who grew up in Ansonia, now lives in Prospect and comes in every Saturday — no doubt passing another bakery or two on the way — to get some big, tasty Eddy’s Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies for her husband.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid...” Kuczynski said. “It’s sure a staple in Ansonia. It’s one of the few businesses in Ansonia that has lasted through the years.”
One key to Eddy’s success is that in a very diverse and VERY ethnic area, Eddy’s — located on a block that also includes a Polish restaurant and a Polish deli, an upscale Italian restaurant, a sushi and Asian food restaurant and a new restaurant that specializes in chicken sandwiches — Eddy’s has always covered the needs of multiple ethnicities.
In the Valley, they have to, Paul Ciocca said.
You want your seasonal paczkis (pronounced “punch-keys”) — a Polish treat, sort of like an oversized jelly doughnut, that’s only available in the weeks leading up to Easter? Eddy’s has you covered.
Fresh, crunchy Italian cannolis? Check!
Some nice Eastern European babka or Jewish challah bread or hamantaschen? How many?
And crossing a few ethnic boundaries, there’s that rye bread that Eddy’s has become pretty legendary for.
“I’m going to miss it — it’s the only (bakery) left in town,” said longtime Ansonia resident Mac McKenzie, who has been coming in to Eddy’s “off and on” for 30 years or so. On Saturday, he left with a neatly-sealed white box containing four cannolis.
John, who prefered not to give his last name, has been swinging through Ansonia from his home in Naugatuck and bringing Eddy’s cakes to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting he runs in Orange for years now. The last Saturday of each month is always an anniversary party — celebrating another month sober — and Eddy’s cakes are always part of the celebration, he said.
“I’ve been doing business with these guys for years — and they do great service here,” John said. In addition to offering tasty baked goods, “they’re always polite. They treat you with courtesy.”
Signs of the esteem Eddy’s is held in by its customers are all over the place.
A bulletin board on one wall — right next to the mouth-watering layer cakes, cheesecakes and parfaits slowly turning around in a triple-decker glass display case — is festooned with Christmas cards and thank you notes from happy customers who appreciate the role Eddy’s played in their own lifeevent celebrations.
The backside of Eddy’s front display window has a copy of a past Connecticut Magazine “Best of Connecticut” cover taped to it, with a blurb celebrating Eddy’s as the best-loved bakery in Connecticut that year taped just below it.
Paul Ciocca said he hopes lots of his long-time customers will stop by during the days they have left at 317 Main St. to say hi, shoot the breeze and say goodbye.
Needless to say, there will be plenty of snack options available.