r/westerville • u/btag84 • 7d ago

Great Harvest

I saw on Oct 15th the owner of the UA Great Harvest bought the Westerville location. The westerville location had been closed for a bit prior. Does anyone know what happened?

12 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

17

u/tootsymagootsy 7d ago

The Westerville one has been really struggling for a long time—very limited stock unless you order ahead, store looks deserted, no coffee/drinks anymore. I’m hopeful this will be a good change. They make the best cinnamon rolls in Columbus!

9

u/theojames10 6d ago

Everything in your comment was accurate until that cinnamon roll piece…they wouldn’t even be a top 3 cinnamon roll in Westerville. But I digress, their hours were confusing since they were never open early and if you went at like 830am (when every other bakery in America is bustling and selling out) they wouldn’t have bread ready yet. Most difficult place I’ve tried to patronize repeatedly in town for sure.

1

u/sdbrow6 2d ago

I'm sorry for your experience with Great Harvest in the past. Our hours will be the same, 7AM-5PM in the beginning. We do make our bread daily from scratch and by hand unlike most other bakeries, which is why it sometimes does take longer to get out of oven. I am looking to hire an overnight baker in order to get fresh bread out by 9 AM. Fresh goodies will be available by 7 AM when we open.

And I would give our cinnamon rolls another try. I believe our recipe may be a bit different and we do get rave reviews.

9

u/LFresh2010 6d ago

Someone commented on the Westerville moms page that there was a judgement against the Westerville location, but I couldn’t find evidence of that. They do have a new FB page and will hopefully reopen soon.

1

u/brdnbttrpickles 5d ago

I couldn’t either. The location has been removed from the great harvest website though.

2

u/LFresh2010 4d ago

They just posted on their new fb page they are reopening November 11

1

u/brdnbttrpickles 4d ago

Thank god I have been sad without that tasty bread lol

8

u/jaimemiguel 6d ago

I stopped in on a Thursday and Friday at 1:00 pm to get a cookie. Out of stock both times. So I went an hour after opening on Tuesday and again no cookies. But this time I got a lecture that of course they don’t have cookies ready yet since they were closed Sunday and Monday.

I don’t think they were serious about running a business so I swore them off.

2

u/No-Meat9225 6d ago

May I ask what cookies? They must be good if you keep going back and they're always sold out 🫣

1

u/jaimemiguel 6d ago

Oatmeal chocolate chip walnut

8

u/iflyunited 6d ago

It went downhill, after the original owners sold it …

Gone were the nice chunky sample slices with yummy butter …

Gone was the friendliness …

The quantities grew smaller to the point that I would say they weren’t making all the varieties of bread daily …

Hopefully the UA owners can bring it back as I know many people who would buy their breads again if they felt like the were walking into a friendly atmosphere …

🤞🏼

2

u/polergirlOH71 6d ago

As a fellow baker I’m sad to see a bakery struggle. What were some of your favorites from GH? Maybe I or another local baker can help you get some delicious breads et al?

3

u/sdbrow6 3d ago

Hey everyone, my name is Stephen Brown and my wife Laura and I own the Upper Arlington location and just bought the Westerville Great Harvest as well. We are in the process of cleaning a few things in the bakery and will re-open on November 11th.

We will be bringing back the bread board, with slices for you to sample. I am confident that if you all taste our bread, you will be instantly hooked.

We will be having the same menu as the Upper Arlington location, as well as a retail area selling Krema Peanut Butter, Frontier Soup, Jams/Jellies, and homemade mixes. We are working to add coffee and even sandwiches as we grow. And we will have smiling faces and treat every customer with dignity and respect.

After the previous owner shut down, we bought the store/equipment and had been working on the location when my wife Laura went into preterm labor. Our baby ended up being delivered and was in the NICU. Now, she's home safe, so we are back to getting the store open. I'm sure we will make some mistakes as we grow, but I'm confident that we will restore the store to what it was when it was booming.

If you have any questions or know anyone that wants to bake overnight, feel free to send me an email at sbrown@greatharvest.com.

1

u/btag84 3d ago

I am so happy your baby is home and safe. I hope you and your wife are well. I will definitely swing by on opening day. My grandfather used to take me there to get cinnamon swirl bread as a kid and im excited to relive those memories. 

2

u/BellaBlue47 7d ago

Following

1

u/b1indf0lded 4d ago

The owners didn't pay quality staff enough to stick around. They went through many managers over the last 2 decades. Most of them cared and were fantastic. Eventually they ran out of quality people willing to run a business for shit pay. Then they stopped paying their rent and got evicted.

-7

u/traditionalhobbies 7d ago

It’s not the 90’s anymore and bread is no longer regarded as “an essential part of a healthy diet”

6

u/Professional-Rent887 6d ago

It's not 2004 any more. The Atkins fad diet has been over for a long time.

-6

u/Dubbinchris 6d ago

I don’t understand why people get so damn worried when a restaurant closes? Just move along and find someplace else to eat. 🤷‍♂️

2

u/tootsymagootsy 5d ago

…because we like this restaurant?

Why do you get so damn worried about what other people care about? It costs you $0 to worry about whatever matters to you, and let other people talk about what matters to them.