NELLISTON — The cookies are gone. The bread is gone. The doors are locked.
Freihofer's Bakery Outlet building in Nelliston closed for good on Monday, according to company spokesperson Lauren Scully.
“After careful analysis and consideration, we made the difficult decision to permanently close the outlet store and redistribute product to other locations,” Bimbo Bakeries USA, owner of Freihofer's products, said in a statement.
Nelliston is one of several bakery outlets to shutter in central New York, the Southern Tier and the Capital Region, including one site in Schenectady.
“We appreciate all of our associates who worked at this store and are taking steps to help ease them through this transition,” Bimbo said in a statement.
Asked how many jobs were at the state Highway 5 facility and how Bimbo has assisted employees, Scully said that she doesn’t have any further details.
Fulton-Montgomery Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Anne Boles and Nelliston Mayor Debra Gros both learned about the closure from Facebook.
“I can’t believe they didn’t even come to a meeting and say, ‘Hey, here’s what we’re doing,’” Gros said.
Gros said that she planned to seek out more information on the closure on Monday.
“It’s just sad to see it go and I didn’t know about it,” said the 65-year-old mayor. “That’s the thing.”
Freihofer’s has been in Nelliston for the greater half of Gros’ life. The old family-owned Charles Freihofer Baking Co. opened up the outlet in 1977 on the former site of the short-lived Chief Drive-In. The site was at the center of the family’s Mohawk Valley sales area.
General Foods acquired Freihofer’s in 1987 — the start of what would become several company change-ups within a 21-year period.
During that time, employees stopped making deliveries to Nelliston as the company switched to an owner-operated distribution model. At one point during the 2000s, there were about 20 owner-operators and eight employees connected with the outlet.
Shannon Dygert, co-owner of Dygert Farms less than a mile down the road, fondly remembers patronizing the business.
“If we had some leftover bread, we’d feed it to the chickens,” Dygert said. “We’d get it more because Freihofer’s is very nice and convenient to grab bread, doughnuts, different pastries and stuff.”
On Monday, customers found a note on the outlet door thanking them for patronage and encouraging them to continue buying Bimbo products.
Gros is confident that the site will be occupied again.
“I’m pretty sure that somebody will move into it because it’s not a bad place,” Gros said.
The mayor plans to talk with business officials in hopes of getting a Burger King and Hannaford in the small village. She’s also open to touring the Ilion Aldis to see what that business could offer.
“We just need to bring in more businesses and stuff like that, so I mean, I haven't even talked to any owners or anything like that,” Gros said. “So I can't really say it’s going to happen or even be possible.”