Doug Grant says he’s already suffering withdrawal symptoms, even though his freezer is stuffed with dozens of hermit cookies from Titus Bakery in Saint John.
The family-run Uptown bakery is closing today after nearly 76 years. The family says it’s time to hang up the aprons and retire.
“It will be a great loss,” said Grant of Belleisle Creek.
At least once a month for several years, he has driven nearly two hours to stock up on the old-fashioned, chewy, spiced biscuits, buying 10 dozen at a time.
“Two hermit biscuits and a coffee – they’re so good you don’t need breakfast,” said Grant.
“They’re about this size,” he said, using his index finger and thumb to form a palm-sized circle, about a half-inch thick, “and they’re made of molasses ginger with raisins. It’s a complete breakfast.”
Saint John’s Titus Bakery is closing its doors after 76 years. But for these loyal customers, the memories never get old.
Grant has been enjoying Titus’ treats since he was four years old, and has done so for 58 years. His grandmother, who worked near the Prince Edward Street location, would take him there for apple slices, raisin slices and his favorite pastry – hermit biscuits.
Although he has tried hermit biscuits from numerous other bakeries, none compare to them, he said.
“I can get a molasses cookie, I can get a ginger cookie, I can get a ginger cookie, but I can’t get everything in one cookie.
“That’s where I got it,” he said, pointing over his shoulder at the Port City institution — a small brick-fronted store with a bright red door, located between the Saint John Community Food Basket and the Salvation Army.
Grant hoped to get the prescription, but was turned down twice.
Recipes go into the safe for now
All the family recipes “go in the vault for now,” said Jennifer Weagle, whose father, Theodore Raymond Titus, founded the business in 1949, including a second location on King Street West on the west side.
“There could potentially be a new generation (currently in high school) that would like to continue. So that’s where they’ll go,” she told CBC News on Tuesday as a steady stream of customers stopped by to buy the last batches of her popular baked goods and wish the family well.
The eldest daughter, 70-year-old Sally Titus, co-owns the business with her fourth sibling, Anthony Titus, and is “definitely ready” to retire, according to Weagle, the youngest and only family member who agreed to be interviewed. Her sister and brother took over the business from their father around 1991, she said, but they all had worked there for years, along with siblings Clara Graham and David Titus.
They had planned to close on Friday, but by Tuesday they ran out of ingredients and the shelves were almost empty.
The decision was confirmed in a social media post at around 6:30 a.m.
“After 75 years in business, today is our last day as we retire,” Titus Bakery announced on Facebook. “Anyone who ordered for tomorrow will need to come by today as we are out of ingredients.”
When asked if they had already sold the company or were planning to sell it, Weagle said that many customers had also inquired about it.
“But that’s a question I haven’t even gotten an answer to yet – and I’m part of the family. So it’s still completely uncertain,” she said.
“It’s really like a death when you lose your business or when you decide to retire. So you have to accept all of those things, all of the things that have to change.”
Although it’s the end of Titus Bakery as people know it, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the end, Weagle said with a smile. “Maybe, just maybe.”
Customers at the centre
She attributes the long-term success of the family business to the popular biscuit varieties such as Hermit, Oatmeal and Jubilee or Spice as well as to the freshness of the products.
“We don’t use any pre-mixed ingredients. … Nothing frozen, we bring it ready-made,” Weagle said.
“They are cut and baked by hand. We don’t have any timers back there in the kitchen. Everything is just calculated by eye.”
However, customer service is just as important.
“I truly believe that ultimately it comes down to treating your customers with respect and honor, as if they were the most important people in the world,” Weagle said.
Despite their busy daily schedules, the customers took the time to visit the small shop.
“If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here. That’s why they’re a priority,” Weagle said, a lesson she was taught by her “extremely loving and kind” parents.
“Great people, great food”
She fought back tears as she greeted regulars by name and accepted cards, flowers, chocolates and hugs.
Arthur Crowley told her he would miss her “almost as much as the bread.”
Crowley has been shopping at Titus Bakery since he was nine years old. “It’s been a lot of years,” he said, declining to say exactly how many, but his white hair gave him away.
Over the past 20 years, he has visited the restaurant “regularly,” about three times a week, because of the “great people and the great food.”
“When you do business with the Tituses, it’s more than just business,” Crowley said. “It becomes a kind of family affair.”
“They know everyone and everyone is welcome. So it’s not like going into a big store where nobody knows anyone else and you’re a number. It’s a total loss for the community and a tremendous loss for me.”
4 generations of customers
Abby Chenier heard about the closure from a friend and “couldn’t believe it.”
Four generations of the Chenier family were regular visitors to the bakery.
“Very nice place. And the people were nice. Always joking, always having fun.”
He started doing this when he attended nearby St. Malachy’s High School and continued when he later worked at the fire station up the road.
“I came down to get bread for the sandwiches, fresh. And another guy went to the (city) market to get cold cuts.”
Chenier still comes by twice a week, mostly for the bread. He said he joked with the Tituses that on their last day, he would show up with an old bread truck and buy 400 loaves. “Next week, I’ll sell them for $10 a loaf. That’s how good their bread is,” he said.
His granddaughter Jordyn describes how she spread butter on the molasses black bread and ate a whole loaf in one go.
Chenier will also miss the blueberry danishes. “If they close, I’ll lose even more weight. I mean, I depend on them.”
Felt like part of the family
Dawn Durley and her sister Crystal Koven said they ate “pretty much everything” the bakery offered and “everything was delicious.”
They left as young girls with their parents and took their own children and grandchildren with them.
“We’re really going to miss him,” Durley said as she signed a card and inserted some gift cards.
“We just wanted to let them know how happy we are for them and bring them a little something and just show them how much we appreciate them.”
They have been part of almost every family celebration over the years.
“For Christmas, we would order from Titus. When we have a party – baby shower, wedding shower – we would come to Titus… and even for funerals, unfortunately, we would order from Titus,” Koven said. “So they were really a part of every aspect of our lives.”
“It was almost like we were part of their family and they were part of ours. That’s how we felt,” Durley said. “And I’m sure they treat everyone that way, not just us.”
“Their baking skills are to die for, but more than anything, I think they are just being themselves. It’s a family tradition that their parents would be so proud of.”
Weagle, who has known some customers since childhood, said they feel like family and are remembered fondly.
“We are very grateful,” she said. “Grateful is a big word and that’s what we are – grateful with an exclamation point.”
