The โcoming soonโ sign is on the front door of La Estrella Bakeryโs new downtown location, an 800-square-foot storefront across the street from St. Augustine Cathedral on South Stone Avenue.
But it will be weeks before it opens, said Isabel Montano, whose family owns the 39-year-old bakery.
When it opens sometime in April, the bakery on the corner of South Stone Avenue and West Ochoa Street will be the fourth location and the first downtown.
โItโs quite small but I think it will be great for the downtown area,โ said Montano, who runs the familyโs three operations with her parents, Antonio and Marta Franco, and siblings, Antonio, Sandra and Erica Franco.
An artist rendering of La Estrella Bakeryโs downtown storefront across the street from St. Augustine Cathedral.
La Estrella Bakery has been a cornerstone of Tucsonโs Mexican bakery scene since Antonio and Marta opened the flagship bakery at 5266 S. 12th Ave. in 1985.
The couple would raise their four children to adulthood before opening a second shop at the Mercado District, 100 S. Avenida del Convento, in 2011.
Ten years later, they opened a second west side location at the old El Rio Bakery, 901 N. Grande Ave., where Marta and Antonio learned to bake soon after emigrating to Tucson from their native Mexico in the early 1970s.
La Estrella Bakery specializes in empanadas, donuts and tortillas.
Montano said the family is looking forward to being downtown to serve the growing population of the areaโs residents and hotel guests.
โWe truly believe that bakeries belong inside of neighborhoods,โ she said. โWe always wanted to be a Tucson staple where people will ... have these bakeries in their neighborhood, being able to walk to your bakery.โ
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