Iconic Seattle Bakery Closes

Image

March 20, 2021 at 1:39 pm Updated March 20, 2021 at 3:18 pm
Remo Borracchini’s, a landmark along Rainier Avenue South, is shuttered, boarded up,

Saturday March 20, 2021. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

ByErik Lacitis Seattle Times staff reporter

After 100 years of selling spectacular cakes for weddings and
office parties, the landmark Borracchini’s Bakery & Mediterranean
Market on Rainier Avenue South announced Saturday it was closed for
good.

The pandemic has taken down another business — this one, a
destination for generations of Seattleites who couldn’t resist the sweet
offerings while immersing themselves in tradition.

“ … we are in
the party business. The problem with that is no one has been gathering
over the past year to have those parties. Needless to say, it was
devastating to our business,” said the family on the bakery’s Facebook page.

In an Aug. 22, 1993, Seattle Times story, Remo Borracchini — now 90 — told of being born eight blocks from the bakery.

Business was good.

“We
do up to 150 birthday cakes a day. And around 110 wedding cakes every
weekend. Last Saturday we did 125 wedding cakes and I figured it out
that on that day 13,780 people were eating our wedding cakes in
Seattle,” he told Times restaurant critic John Hinterberger.

The business has more recently been run by his three daughters, Lisa Desimone, Mimi Norris and Nannette Heye.

On Friday evening, Heye said they were still undecided about their options. On Saturday, the closure was announced.

“We have the best customers in the world,” she said.

Within 45 minutes of that Facebook posting, over 300 comments had been posted by people with fond memories of the Italian shop:

“Nooooooo!
Our family has been coming to your bakery since it’s inception. Every
wedding, birthday, and everything came from your bakery. Are you sure
there’s nothing the community can do to help keep your doors open?”

“This
is heartbreaking! Remo sat down with my husband and I when we were
there to pick out our wedding cake. We talked about cake and marriage.
At the wedding, everyone raved about how this was the best cake they had
ever had. ♡ and it truly was.”

“Been going to Borracchini’s since
my family moved to Seattle from LA in 1977. I was 11yo and have been
enjoying the bakery since then. I always felt a sense of familiarity
when I walked in because it never changed a lot….and I thought that was a
big positive!”

This story will be updated.

Erik Lacitis:

206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @ErikLacitis.

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