New Bakery Opens in the Old Mill District as Riverside Storefronts Slowly Fill
A new bakery opened its doors this month in a renovated storefront on Riverside Avenue, joining a slow but steady trickle of businesses returning to the Old Mill District after years of vacancy.
The shop occupies a corner unit that had sat empty since the previous tenant, a hardware supplier, closed several years ago. Its owners spent months restoring the brick facade and the original tin ceiling, work that qualified for a small facade-improvement grant the township offers for the district.
A corridor in slow transition
Commercial vacancy along the six-block stretch has fallen noticeably over the past two years, according to figures from the township’s economic development office, though several of the largest former mill buildings remain empty and would need major investment to reoccupy.
- The facade grant reimburses up to a set share of exterior restoration costs
- Foot traffic has grown on weekends but remains thin on weekday mornings
- Merchants say parking and lighting are their most common concerns
Local business owners say the neighborhood still needs an anchor tenant to draw consistent daytime crowds, but they describe the recent openings as encouraging. Whether the momentum holds may depend in part on how the council resolves the pending rezoning debate over building heights along the same avenue.
Related: Business & Development · Old Mill District rezoning
Further reading: Bakeries
