When 80-year-old bakery A. Zito & Sons shuttered in 2004 due to rising costs, it left a hole in the hearts of loyal customers who frequented the store at 259 Bleecker Street for bread. Surprisingly, it also left a hole in Bleecker Street itself. Blogger Lost City has been running photos of the still-vacant storefront for years, documenting its descent from classic neighborhood fixture to depressing eyesore. It's prime real estate, so what gives?
The situation may have changed, but here's what Lost City wrote in 2007:
Tired of looking at the "For Lease" sign in the window, I called the number listed to ask what was going on. The quite nice and cooperative man on the other end of the phone said the lease to Zito had been sold to a small company which was shortly thereafter gobbled up by a bigger company. The bigger company has since proved "difficult" and sits on its hands and matters have come to a standstill. The real estate company listed on the sign has no control over the situation now, the man said. He knows the empty space bothers locals and he fields calls about it fairly often.The Vesuvio Bakery in Soho is making a comeback, so maybe not all hope is lost that 259 Bleecker's fortunes could still turn around.
· Zito Bakery - Worse Than Ever [Lost City]
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