Andersonville's Iconic Swedish Bakery Shuttering After 88 Years in Business

Andersonville is losing a beloved neighborhood icon that's been in business for nearly a century. Swedish Bakery, a throwback family-owned shop at 5348 N. Clark St., will close for good on Feb. 28, ownership announced in a Facebook post that was first noticed by DNAinfo. "Changing times have dictated an honest evaluation of our business," it reads in part. "Based on that review, it is time to call a close and exit the stage." Read the full post below, which so far has garnered 2.6K reactions and nearly 2,200 shares in less than a day.

The Tribune talked to operations officer Dennis Stanton, who also said that age of Swedish Bakery's ownership — and its aging customer base — also contributed to the decision. They've also had difficulty attracting millennials to the old-school bakery stalwart, he said. The Stanton family has owned the business for nearly 38 of its 88 years.

The bakery, which was founded in 1929, has been a neighborhood anchor and throwback to Andersonville's Swedish roots on Clark Street for nearly a century, well-known for its European pastries and baked goods and wide-ranging whimsically-decorated cookie selection inside a no-frills space lined with counters and trays of goodies. You have less than a month to visit it again — and one more paczki day on its last day (Feb. 28) — before it's gone forever.