Daube's to close its only remaining storefront

After 32 years of serving up fresh-baked sweets, a local titan of treats announced this week would be its last with a physical storefront.

On Wednesday, Daube’s Cakes and Bakery confirmed its last remaining open location, on the corner of South Broadway and 16th Street SW, would close to in-person customers at the end of business hours on Saturday. 

Wednesday’s news follows the permanent closure of the two other Daube’s locations in Rochester: Daube’s Down Under located in the subway, and the iconic main storefront just off Civic Center Drive. All three locations shut down March 22 as a result of Covid-19, and the permanent closure of the first two locations was made public in mid-April.

The south Daube’s location was able to re-open on June 18, albeit with limited offerings. The bakery’s famous cake donuts, for instance, were a casualty of the Civic Center location’s closure and subsequent loss of their fryer. (Daube’s Facebook page says cakes, snack breads, kolaches, and assorted bars will be available at the store through Saturday.)

While the post-Covid return of a brick-and-mortar Daube’s will only last nine days, June 27 won’t mark the absolute end of the bakery. Moving forward, Daube’s plans to operate without a storefront and revamp their website, while filling cake orders through Facebook Messenger in the interim, as they have done over the past couple months while their storefronts sat empty.

“We thank you all for your support and patronage over the years and are looking forward to continuing to serve the Rochester area with delicious cakes and products in a different format,” the business wrote on Facebook.

Cynthia Daube founded the business in 1988 and ran it until 2015, when it was sold to Dihanna DuVaught. 

Daube’s joins an ever-growing list of local eateries forced to shut their doors because of the pandemic’s economic impacts, including Jenpachi Japanese Steak House, a popular Hibachi grill in northwest Rochester, and award-winning smoothie and sandwich shop Tonic Juice Bar. 

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.