Business & Tech

Opening a Palmieri's Bakery on Main Street is Owners' Dream come True

"I've always wanted to be in EG," owner Theresa Meresi said. "There's just something about Main Street."

After getting the OK from the Town Council Monday night, Palmieri's Bakery on Main Street should be open by April 1 and owner Theresa Meresi is excited.

Excited because she's worked hard to get the new store at 247 Main St. ready for business and for years, the idea of opening a Palmieri's on Main Street has been a dream.

"There's something about it," Meresi said. "I like the look, the people, the flow of the street. It has great potential."

To get a sense of how badly Meresi wanted to open the shop on Main Street, consider how much time she spend mulling over whether to sign the lease for the former Symposium Books location: no time at all.

A customer called her to tell her a for rent sign went up at a different spot on Main Street. She came and looked at it. It wasn't perfect, but while she was in town, she heard that Symposium Books had just moved out of its spot.

"I'll take it," Meresi said without hesitation.

It was about nine months ago — the same time her baby was born, which means the last few months have been a challenge to get the new store ready. Along with caring for a new child and managing three other Palmieri's locations, the family spent many hours cleaning up the store, installing a new kitchen and all the other myriad things that must be done to get a new food establishment ready to go.

"I took my time to design it," Meresi said. "I wanted to do it right. I just want it to be perfect."

The new Palmieri's will combine the best of the other locations, Meresi said, with fresh bread baked at the Ridge Street location in Providence arriving daily and cafe food, pastries and coffee, in much the same style as Palmieri's on the Square in DePasquale Square on Federal Hill.

It will be a bakery and a cafe, with eight tables for people to sip cappuccinos and enjoy crepes as well as get their daily bread, zeppoles for St. Joseph's Day, cupcakes, and all the other staples that had made Palmieri's a Rhode Island institution since 1898.

To start, Meresi said she will likely keep the shop open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eventually, the closing date will get pushed back to 10 p.m. once the kinks are ironed out and warmer weather finally arrives.

Meresi said she'll be hiring a crew of workers and already, people have been stopping by the shop to inquire about jobs or to recommend certain people. Additionally, people have been peering in the windows and saying hello in anticipation of the opening date.

"We've had tons of applications," Palmieri said. 


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