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What's Going On With Moishe's Bake Shop?
By
Paula Mejía
Published Mar 20, 2019
Modified Mar 20, 2019
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Paula Mejía/Gothamist
By
Paula Mejía
Published Mar 20, 2019
Modified Mar 20, 2019
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It appears that the East Village's venerable Moishe's Bake Shop may just be renovating, and not closing forever, despite clashing reports. In the interim, you can still get your fix for babka and other goodies, too.
Reached over the phone Wednesday morning, Moishe Perl confirmed to Gothamist that the shop wasn't permanently closed. They're still baking (albeit in Brooklyn) while renovating the Second Avenue location. He wouldn't say how long the renovations were going on for, but he did say that phone orders could be fulfilled for now. "Whatever you want, you just call me one day before," he says.
Earlier this month, news broke that the longtime establishment was suddenly closing for good. Eulogies poured out for the bakery, a stronghold in an ever-shifting neighborhood, as reports trickled out that the building had been leased to the investor Jay Schwimmer (with an option to buy).
While the bakery's Grand Street outpost remained open, in the ensuing weeks, it's been difficult to know whether Moishe's on 2nd Avenue had really gone out of business. Last week, EV Grieve reported that a sign had been placed in the window of the shuttered shop, noting that the space had just temporarily closed for renovations. Perl told Patch that he intended to open the shop again later this spring, with an eye on making it a cafe.
Then, an employee told Eater that Moishe's was in fact closing forever, and Perl told am New York the same thing. The bakery's windows have since been covered with brown paper. To add more confusion into the mix, the Yelp page has been marked as closed.
Moishe's neighbors on the 2nd Avenue block, between East 7th and East 6th Street, weren't sure what the deal was, either. A server at a neighboring food establishment told Gothamist earlier this week that they were under the impression that they had closed, but didn't know much beyond that, adding that the bakery tended to keep to themselves. At the New Yorkers Foodmart, an employee said that Perl had sold the building, and that any renovations in question would likely be made by the new owner. And at Mighty Quinn's Barbecue, a manager said that they'd heard about the renovations, citing the handwritten note on the shop's window (as of Tuesday evening, the sign was no longer there).
Even more mysterious was the fact that Moishe's seems to still be taking phone orders for baked goods. Howard Megdal, a New Jersey resident who says he always drives into the city to buy hamentaschen pastries from Moishe's for Purim every year, says that he called the bakery and got an unexpected response. Over email he tells Gothamist that they were "very clearly renovating, and willing to fill phone orders." Which is what Perl himself told us this morning.
It's still unclear what the future is for the shop, as Perl somewhat mysteriously noted he'll have more to share soon. We'll update when he does...
Tagged
bakery
closed
east village
hamentashen
kosher
moishes bake shop
purim
renovating
Paula Mejía
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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