Red Chair Bakery

The Red Chair Bakery was a small shop on Kirkwood Avenue for many years. Distinguished by the bright red kitchen chair hanging above the doorway, it made large scones and muffins as well as cookies. Originally it was owned by Scott Marsh, but he sold the store to Mike Baker in 1988. In 1994 the store expanded from one location to four by buying two of the Crescent Donut chain of donut shops and converted them to Red Chair Bakeries, but the experiment was short-lived as the new chain was forced to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy the next year. The chain was reorganized as the corporation All Natural Inc., the two new stores were closed, and the original location on Kirkwood limped along for a few months selling organic and vegan products.

In 1997 a city restaurant inspector ordered the restaurant to close after finding major health violations. Baker threw in the towel, and the restaurant was sold to a succession of owners over the next few years: Art Stasny, Gene Moncel, Sara Harvey (owner of the Vintage Wearhouse), Tom Rearick, and Tracy Gates. Eventually it was bought by Bob Costello, owner of the next-door Village Deli, and he closed the storefront down for a Village Deli expansion in 2002.