Upper Crust Bakery

August 30th, 2012 · 29 Comments

Appears to be closed. Nothing on their website or Facebook page- we will let you know as details become available.

Tags: Uncategorized

98199

?? Frustrated & Sad
Sad for the staff who only seem to have been told today it is game over; frustrated as our family really enjoyed Upper Crust and visited it multiple times weekly.
Appears that operating costs, lease increases, and a change of heart regarding running&operating a bakery all contributing factors.
Such a shame. 5 years of a great local & vibrant business in this area…gone.
I’ll miss the staff, the customers, their great danish/cinnamon rolls/bread/latte and more.
over weight guy

Maybe a really good bakery will move in.

health dude

Maybe it’s not good for your health…

sad clown

crap. back to starbucks for cardboard pastries. sorry to hear it.
Sad Panda

What is wrong with us? Why can’t we support decent businesses in Magnolia? Are we destined to be stuck with banks, Menchies and the smokers outside the Gim Wah forever? I really hope the new Metropolitan Market survives the Magnolia ambivalence towards anything of quality.

CoulddoBetter

I do not know the zoning restrictions in Magnolia Village, so I am admittedly uninformed. However, if we allow a couple of 200+ unit apartment buildings to go in, I believe that the dilapidated buildings down there would be quickly gone and replaced with a built-in market for several new restaurants that the community can actually support. Just look how well Ballard is doing. I have to think that the only reason this has not happened is because the building codes do not allow it. MV is the most mismanaged stretch of real estate in Seattle.
ericsmith

If people really “hung out” here bakeries, breakfast spots, etc. would thrive. Drinking places do, because people will go there before they go home. For Magnolia to have a “downtown ambiance” people have to consider something on the food truck/bake sale scale. Something like the Saturday fresh produce market. So few people linger here during the day. Lunch hours (used to love Wheeler St cafe.) aren’t something most of Magnolia doesright here…the workers on remodeling projects in Magnolia eat at Subways. Start to rethink of downtown Magnolia as a series of services for commuting professionals or young families with specific needs… zero ambiance, but convenience where you need it…..or welcome in the dreaded highrises which bring with them the people who will pay for the quality Thai, quality bread, and even the quality bars you crave. Magnolia is certainly where Cupcake Royale would go to die..
http://www.facebook.com/travis.hartnett Travis Hartnett

As long as gas is cheap, people will be willing to drive to somewhere nearby that offers the most appealing options.

Shelby M

Say it isn’t so, I love their cinnamon rolls!
Snarkbark

First Tully’s and now the bakery….my two favorite places.
bssusie

Take a place like Rudy’s and turn it into a place like Baking Essential(right past Fremont) and I think it would make it. So sad everything in Magnolia just folds. I have noticed a hula hoop place on Goverment Way, it’s still going. Go figure that….

Val

A bakery/breakfast place would be awesome.

ericsmith

The demographics of Magnolia don’t support any of the businesses that have been leaving. The new zoning in BAllard (and all Seattle) enforces that the first floor be devoted to retail space…to serve, amoung others, the rentors or buyers of the condos. It was angrily pointed out to me that Magnolia does not want to have more multiple housing units (especially at that plat up by the water tower), so all we will have here is physical therapy, dentists, banks…what do you want? Can’t have it both ways. Our demographics is older people and younger families who don’t eat out often. Higher density building brings business with it. Be content with just going elsewhere for services unless you can bring yourselves to be content with higher density deveopments like Ballard has actively encouraged.

ericsmith

For all of you who put “down” arrows, the people who charge the rents in Magnolia do not depend on them for income…so they have zero motivation to lower rents…they can write off their wrecks if they just let them stand. If you don’t want multiple housing with retail on the first floor (see how successfully that plan worked for the townhouses in the middle of the village…what has it been 3 years unsold?) just accept that the kind of businesses that can afford rents that rape the renter and the renter smiles…they will will be services where you don’t “hang out” or have breakfast or luxuritate. It will be stockbrokers or businesses that can charge $100 plus for services like the local dentists.

diam

Why the crack at Menchies? My favorite place and so glad it is here!

diam

sorry, meant to reply to sad panda.

jillygirl

I agree with Sad Panda about supporting anything of quality but I understand ericsmith’s comments too. Thing is, I have a family and I eat out…downtown where the food is good.
Eric

My favorite bakery and cinnamon rolls ever! A Saturday tradition for years – so bummed out by this news…
Lawtondad

I feel like this is my fault. I was thriving off those cinnamon rolls and housemade chocolate mochas for months until I started going on a diet. Now, of course, I’m heartbroken. Curses!
ericsmith

Someone mentioned Essential Bakery. Back in the day when there weren’t so many choices, everyone would love the convenience of the local bakery we had here in Magnolia. But truth be told, if meeting a friend I would recommend EB or better yet Le Reve in Queen Anne first. Why on earth would anyone go up the bridge for mediocre pastries…and even if they had been superior? Being on this peninsula means we are isolated from the “hub” of things. THats why we like it here. The reason why Essential Bakery will not move here is because there aren’t enough people here to make economic sense of it. They are serving Fremont, WAllingford, U District and their clientele will pay $7 for a pastry. Most of us pick up bread when we are at the various markets we use. I love our quiet MAgnolia and will be quite content if it never developed and if the only services here are medical, dry cleaning, pharmacy and pet supplies.
magnoliadude

It is truly sad that local bakery like Uppercrust can’t survive. I personally think small bakeries like Uppercrust is what keeps such a quaint and cozy communities like the Village going. I knew Anna, the owner, and she was truly a small business owner I wish would never go away. Uppercrust made our wedding cake, our son’s first birthday cake and our anniversary cake. It was tradition to go there every Saturday. Thank you Uppercrust and we are not sure what we are going to do now on Saturdays! Because we are not going to SB for burnt tasting coffee and cardboard pastries.
But of course…

Magnolia: where businesses go to die. Seriously. What’s next? What does the Chamber do to encourage local residents to shop in the Village? Nothing, except the holiday stuff. I never see anyone in the Village, because there are too many options in Ballard and Queen Anne.

ericsmith

Other than services I already use (post office, dry cleaner, pet supplies, mail box place, the nursery banks,….the only thing that would workfor me is a Groupon coupon for a glass ofwine out. I think the Chamber should put together a list of 100 services and possible businesses and distribute it door to door and do a survey to see what the heck people would pay for in Magnolia. Only thing missing for me (and we won’t reopen the grocery issues) is a quality Asian takeout.

christine

I’m so upset. My favorite local spot .. now I got to drive to Cupcake Royale for coffee
Bread lover

Would Magnolians support a “co-op” bakery for the village? Not sure how much we would all need to “chip” in to make a bakery work out. “Shareholders” get a discount on their baked goods and drinks while others pay market price. Is it possible?

ericsmith

I think what I really meant to say is that the rents in Magnolia are so exhorbitant that little bakeries or coops can’t afford to go in there, but that is the only kind of business that could work. Aside from the health care permits, etc., there is no “meeting of minds” as to what can fill those stores. Should it be a thrift store with designer clothing…a nod to the Bluff people…but then look at Greenwood and the rag tag look of that. But again, who can pay the rents?. Thats what drove out Mieko’s. Its what made Pet Pros move. Those buidings are owned, so the owners have no real reason to rent out the space affordably since its all just profit for them. As as you can see from the eyesores of Rudy’s and the empty ‘apartment’ deal next to Ace, they could care less what the little people in Magnolia think about it. They don’t “hang out” in Magnolia, I assure you.

bart

To be honest, other than the cinnamon rolls and the mousse cake, there wasn’t much good at Upper Crust. Cookies always tasted like the stale air in the bakery. That’s why my family rarely went there. We gave up on it. It hasn’t really been a truly delicious bakery since Gunther, the original owner. He always had lots of custards and Bee Stings (brioche buns filled with bavarian cream and covered with sliced toasted almonds. A bakery could thrive here if it were one with true quality and artisanship.
Tina

I thought their almond croissants were delicious. Sad.
Architectstacy

I don’t get it it was always busy! This is so sad… When I was on maternity leave Upper Crust was where I went for a moment of deliciousness to treat myself. Will miss the great coffee and almond croissant!!!