BUFFALO, N.Y. — The DiCamillo Bakery announced Monday that it is closing one of its locations.
The location that is closing is at 1700 Pine Avenue, which has been in business since 1986.
The family made the announcement below on Facebook:
Until further notice, The DiCamillo family has reluctantly decided to close this 1700 Pine Ave location. At this time, our first priority is the safety of our great employees.
We want to thank the Niagara Falls Police Department for their brave work every day. We also want to thank Security Solutions of Niagara LLC for their constant security presence in our store over the past 2 years. And most of all, we want to thank all of our wonderful customers who have supported this location since 1986.
We are looking forward to seeing you at any of our other four locations and are excited about the prospects for future new store locations in Niagara and Erie counties.
Sincerely,
The Di Camillo Family
2 On Your Side spoke to Matthew DiCamillo, Vice President of the family business, who says "the Pine Avenue location in Niagara Falls is very sentimental to our family, it's two blocks away from over very first store."
DiCamillo says, on Saturday afternoon a young man wearing a mask came into the store, asked for all the money, and showed a gun to the manager and clerk on duty.
"It's simply very difficult for me to ask an employee to continue to work there," DiCamillo says in defense of the family's decision to close the Pine Avenue location until further notice.
No employees were injured, but the experience is one that DiCamillo says, required appropriate action.
"Specifically in the last five year's we've seen an uptick in crime on Pine Avenue as a business owner, and more specifically for us, that Pine Avenue location has seen a definite uptick in crime in the last four to five years," he explains.
DiCamillo says the robber walked away with a few hundred dollars but was later caught by Niagara Falls Police thanks to security footage provided by the DiCamillo family.
2 On Your Side reached to Niagara Falls Police Department on Monday, as well as a city spokesperson, and have yet to hear back regarding updates in their investigation.
For now, while Pine Avenue doors remain shut, DiCamillo says those employees will be re-stationed at one of the four remaining locations for now.
"We can reallocate their roles for those employees that were impacted in the store, no one will lose a job and they'll all be able to work some place else," he says.
As for if and when the Pine Avenue DiCamillo Bakery will re-open? Only time will tell.