Kean's Bakery in Itasca says farewell after 40 years

Itasca is a sleepy town hiding beneath a noisy flight path in the western suburbs. Its downtown consists of a pizza place, two hair salons, a 7-Eleven, another pizza place, and prior to Sunday afternoon, the best bakery bestowed upon God's green earth.

After 40 loyal years keeping the locals one vanilla Long John heavier than the average American, Kean's Bakery opened its door for the last time on July 2, as the owners entered into a much deserved retirement.

Restaurants come and go. Stores go out of business. Life goes on.

But in a town like Itasca, the personality of the bakery and the surrounding neighborhood were intertwined: No frills, high quality sweets for no frills, high quality families. Websites, online orders, customer service texts? Who needs it. Kean's made baked goods and had an answering machine. If you were hoping for more, you were in the wrong bakery and the wrong town.

The employees were literally family, from the owners baking and taking orders each day the "Open" sign lit up to the workers at the counter who were often the daughters of the customers waiting in line for a famed apple fritter.

Kean's was a first job for many, a last job for others. It was a destination to make the weekend a little more special. The uninspired rectangular white box with the "how does he do it?" doughnuts were a guaranteed mood changer in four decades of business conference rooms. A cheese danish could simmer the tension of office politics for hours with a single bite.

If Kean's had a flaw, it was only that the dozen generously-sized assorted doughnuts never had a chance of fitting in a single box despite attempts by every "bakery girl" ever employed. Two boxes please, girls.

Like a child growing up and moving out, losing Kean's to career - graduation - is a sad but proud moment for Itascans.

The loss of future coffee cakes on holiday mornings is real, but the memories and appreciation of one couple giving their entire careers to a town in need of an extra dose of sweetness will never be forgotten.

Secondhand mixers a half century old purchased in a liquidation sale powered through the dough on those predawn mornings because they don't make them like that anymore, according to Mr. Kean.

Itasca agrees with you wholeheartedly.