Chicago's Famed Swedish Bakery Closing After 88 Years

One of Chicago's most beloved spots, the famed Swedish Bakery in Andersonville, just announced it will be closing for good at the end of the month.

Swedish Bakery opened in 1929, and, at the time, it was one of many Swedish bakeries in Chicago. Over the past 88 years, though, the city has changed, and the Andersonville outpost is the only remaining Swedish bakery in Chicago.

Less than a third of the bakery's products are specifically Swedish, but that does not seem to bother its customers who come from miles away to stock up on things that are not easily found anywhere else. The owners said their customers were loyal but it's been hard to attract younger Chicagoans to their decidedly old-school bakery.

Swedish Bakery is particularly known for European-style pastries like a green marzipan princess torte, petits fours, decorated cookies, and, of course, the filled, Polish-style doughnuts, pączkis.

In Chicago, people often refer to "Fat Tuesday" as "Pączki Day" and take it as an opportunity to load up on those doughnuts. This year, "Pączki Day" falls on Tuesday, Feb. 28, so at least Swedish Bakery will end on a high note.

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