So long to the Pretty Lil’ Sweets store
The popular bakery has shuttered its Hartsdale Avenue location, citing “desolate town.”
Bitter “Sweet” Now that Pretty Lil’ Sweets has shut its doors, customers will have to call if they want an order delivered.
BY DEBORAH SKOLNIK
For four years, Pretty Lil’ Sweets sat at the western edge of Hartsdale Village. The small, whimsical bakery beckoned shoppers (or, not that they’ll admit it, Hydrogen Fitness members) with colorful cupcakes, cookies, cake pops, and more. But drive by today and you’ll see a bitter sight: The store’s fixtures are being dismantled, and there’s not smear of frosting to be found.
Owner Deanna Zevros said she’ll still produce her baked goods, including custom orders, out of a commercial kitchen. She’ll likely offer free delivery for purchases over a minimum amount and have smaller quantities available via a service such as DoorDash. Going forward, however, there will be no shop where customers can simply walk in and choose a treat from among the many tantalizing options in the glass case.
“All that stuff would just go into the garbage”
“We are closing the storefront because it’s so expensive to keep it running. There’s inflation and the Rite Aid closed, which has affected all the stores. The whole area has become a desolate town,” Zevros said. “Just to keep [the store] open, it was $12,000 a month, and that’s just with employees and 10 to 15 different types of cupcakes plus the cookies and the croissants, to keep the cases filled. And over the last 6 to 8 months, 90% of the time all that stuff would just go into the garbage. I used to donate every Monday to the homeless, just so I didn’t have to throw it out. There was all that money I wasted just doing that.”
A peek inside The dismantled store as seen through the front window.
Zevros also has sympathy for her fellow shopkeepers. “I feel really bad for the other business owners in the community. I know everybody’s hurting financially…if people don’t come out to support the small businesses, we’re going to die,” she said. “There are so many buildings in the area, and maybe just 10 people a day go into the store. When you can’t walk down the street and see a cute little bakery or a cute little clothing store, then the value of your property goes down. It’s not good for anybody.”
Smoke shop and lack of sidewalk seating
Zevros complained that the town doesn’t help the stores in Hartsdale Village enough. "During Covid they allowed the businesses to extend onto the street. No more. You can go into Eastchester and Scarsdale and see all the things they do for their businesses,” she complained. In Hartsdale Village, “Rite Aid and Beauty Mania closed, and they put a smoke shop in, which decreases the value of businesses and brings a different crowd into the neighborhood,” she said.
Zevros hopes her many devoted customers will still reach out for their baked-goods needs. In addition to the sweet stuff, she also offers bureks, featuring several choices of fillings blanketed in homemade filo dough.
To place an order, call 646-464-2389.