After five years in the community, JJ’s Bakery has closed its retail location.
While orders are still being fulfilled, owner Jan Rasmussen has decided to wind down operations and retire in September. “It’s a hard thing for me. I’ve worked very hard to get it where it is, given I’ve never baked a cookie in my life,” she said.
The bakery specialized in from-scratch items and operated one of two certified gluten-free kitchens in the state. Beyond its retail location on North Chestnut Avenue, JJ’s supplied baked goods and treats to Central Cafe and the Marshfield Public Library’s new coffee service.
Always a hard worker, health concerns made Rasmussen realize that working 72 hours a week was no longer possible in her seventies. “I’m not getting any younger,” she said. “Another thing is to find someone to help you out. People don’t want to work a lot these days.”
Even so, Rasmussen thinks she has the best bakers around. The gluten-free items were an experiment at first, but they came up with very good product which gathered its own following, she said.
Rasmussen worked as an optician for 55 years, operating Jan’s Optical right next to the bakery’s current location, before joining the venture in July 2013 after a brief retirement. Anyone interested in taking over JJ’s Bakery can call the business at 715-207-1485.
If there are no buyers, Rasmussen plans to use up her remaining ingredients and perhaps open the retail location for one last bake sale in mid-September.
“I’m taking it day by day,” she said.
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