For a mom and pop bakery in Sheepshead Bay Friday was a step in time. To mark its 30th anniversary, the shop rolled back their prices for one day only to what they charged in 1983, the year they opened the store.
T&D Bakery, on Avenue U sold plain cheesecake for $3.95, Italian bread for 65 cents and doughnuts for 50 cents.
“I’m just stacking up for spring,” said Joan Rota, a customer who bought five loaves of bread— all with a 1983 price tag. “I’ll freeze them,” she added.
T&D Bakery opened on March 15, 1983. Dominick Delponte bought the place from his boss then; he’d already worked in the bakery for ten years. The small shop on Avenue U came with an original brick oven from 1902 and an upstairs apartment. The family took over the place and has been baking in the same old oven ever since.
On the 30th anniversary, the lines were long and the place, busy. Dominick, now 69, his wife Tina, 56, and daughter Josephine Dato, 34, manage the business. On Friday, Dominick rolled dough while his wife packed loafs of bread and called most of the customers by their first name.
“The only thing that has changed is Mayor Bloomberg’s non-trans fat policy,” said Dato, explaining that the only ingredient that is different than in 1983 is the oil. The bakery had to stop using hydrated fats after the city adopted the trans fat ban in 2007.
“It’s healthier now,” Dato said.
T&D Bakery operates around the clock. They make bread and pastries from scratch and have an army of loyal customers who particularly appreciated the unusual discount day.
“It’s a great idea!” said Herbie Heggins, 86, who has been the bakery’s customer since the 1960’s. “I came today just to get bread. Now I’ll get cookies too!”
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