No More Retail For First Street Bakery

First Street Bakery in Casper closes its retail counter today.  No more walk-ins for bagels and sweets from the locally owned shop.

Marsha Asbury, says she's ready after 15 years to cut back on the long days, but she says she realizes her exit leaves a gap.

"When I started there were seven bakeries in town and now were down to nobody."

Asbury admits she didn't give a lot of advanced warning to her customers and they've let her know how they feel.

"We've had the bakery completely filled with people the last two  days, and tears shed, and lots of hugs, and someone cussed me out and hung up on me."

Letting down some of her most devoted customers has been hard, she says. The shop on first street offered sandwiches and such with bagels as her specialty.  Now, she says, if you want to special order you can still get bread  in quantities of five loaves or two dozen bagels, plus cakes decorated and catering.  She suggests there may be a coffee shop opening that will feature her bagels.  For the future,  Asbury says she and her husband want more time; they have a special building project in mind and they have grandchildren to enjoy.