Riverside will be without one of its two downtown bakeries after Memorial Day. On Sunday, Jori Jerabek announced via Facebook that she’ll be closing Fiore Gourmet Bakery at 25 Forest Ave., located in the corner space of the Tower Apartment Building at Forest and East avenues, at the end of May.
Jerabek said in the announcement that she’s about to launch a new venture, but she did not provide details of what it would be.
“Stay tuned. I am starting another project, just one much more manageable and life friendly,” Jerabek wrote.
She admitted in the announcement that the long hours of running a retail bakery, which also included a heavy catering component, played into her decision.
“The 15-hour days, year after year … have taken its toll,” Jerabek wrote.
Fiore Gourmet Bakery moved to Riverside in the summer of 2014 after operating out of a small retail space in Oakbrook Terrace, where she built a reliable corporate clientele for the catering business.
Jerabek thanked her Riverside customers in her announcement, saying, “What a way to step down. I had a beautiful store in a beautiful town with beautiful residents!”
—Bob Uphues
