Christmas is boon for Valley bakeries

YOUNGSTOWN

Cookies are synonymous with the holiday spirit, especially here in the Mahoning Valley.

At least it seems that way from what bakeries are doing in business this time of year.

“We actually do more business the week of Christmas than we do in one month of the year,” said Paul Rovnak, owner of Classic Bakery in Tiffany Plaza in Boardman.

At Sugar Showcase in Austintown’s Wedgewood Plaza, owner Cheryl Bair says the holiday season makes up 50 percent of her business for the year. Every holiday season, the bakery makes more than 3,000 cookies.

“There’s a lot of late nights,” Bair said.

The art of the cookie, the taste of the cookie and the need to have cookies for Santa and other holiday guests are what keep the orders flying in at local bakeries.

“They know they are good quality because of all the years we have been in business,” Rovnak said. “Because of the quality and freshness and the assortment we have, I think that’s all part of the reason” people come to his bakery.

His father operated a bakery called Mr. Paul’s on the South Side of Youngstown in the 1960s. And before that, his mother’s father had a bakery in the 1950s.

Read more about the holiday cookie business in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.