Just a few minutes ago, Scratch Baking announced it will close its downtown location in the upcoming weeks. The bakery and breakfast and lunch cafe opened eight years ago.
In a Facebook post on the business’s page, owner Phoebe Lawless writes about the decision to close Scratch’s original Orange Street location by the end of February and focus on “Baby Scratch” and the Lakewood on Chapel Hill Street.
Lawless writes: “We’ve had an amazing eight years in that bakeshop on Orange Street. But now everything is different. […] That sleepy block now bustles. And, especially, downtown Durham has transformed. All the once-empty storefronts are now offices and stores and restaurants and bars. It’s growing at a pace that we aren’t able to keep up with in that small storefront. I have two children now and another business in another part of town. We’re stretching so hard to grow The Lakewood and Baby Scratch and still keep downtown Scratch going. But you can’t stay stretched forever. It’s time.”
She was not immediately available for comment. Scratch’s full post is pasted below.
