TORONTO — The venerable Toronto baked goods chain Open Window Bakery ceased operations last week after 54 years in business.

Confused customers stand outside a locked Open Window-owned outlet at Sheppard Plaza on Jan. 21. The store hadn’t posted a sign alerting customers to the chain’s bankruptcy, and food could still be seen on shelves inside. [Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf photo]

Some 150 employees were affected by the shut-down.

The store, started by Holocaust survivor Max Feig in 1957, was renowned for its hand-baked pastries, buns, breads and treats. Feig’s daughter, Gail Agasi, was still running the company as its CEO when the doors closed on Jan. 17.

It was one of the city’s oldest family-run bakeries.

Tali Watkin-Smith, Feig’s granddaughter and a former employee, was on hand last week to help close the store and told The CJN in a phone interview that her family was trying desperately to save the jobs of those affected.

A distraught Watkin-Smith said her mother ­– Ms. Agasi – and a skeleton sales staff were fielding numerous calls from potential buyers to try to find a financial white knight to keep the chain afloat, but she said she didn’t believe there was “any chance” the store would remain in the family’s hands.

“Until you’re walking in the shoes of someone going bankrupt, you don’t know how it feels. The company is insolvent right now… we are trying our best to take care of everyone. If we can sell [the chain], we will, to save our employees’ jobs,” Watkin-Smith said, adding that many of them have been with the company for 30-plus years.

One employee was even hired by Feig in the store’s opening year in 1957, she said.

In a Jan. 20, interview with The Toronto Star, Agasi said her company’s downfall began in 2008 during the economic recession.

“The world turned upside down, you could say, in 2008. As consumers started watching their pennies, they weren’t choosing our products. It’s because we don’t compromise on quality. A lot of this stuff is still made by hand,” she told the Star.

As of last week, the company’s website was still up and running and  featured a blurb on its current economic strategy, which included partnering with “leading food distributors” such as Gordon Food Service, Summit Foods, Cara, Bruce Edmeades, Traynors, Tannis and others in order to “meet the growing demand” for its products.

The company owned seven stores around the GTA at the time of closure, including its main bakery and headquarters at 1125 Finch Ave. W.

The company owed “more than several hundreds of thousands of dollars” to creditors, according to Agasi.

Watkin-Smith said Feig, 89, now suffers from Alzheimer’s and is unaware of what has transpired with the company he founded.

“He survived Buchenwald, came to Canada, was honoured by the province as a survivor and started this store. My zaide was the biggest believer in giving back to the community and to his workers,” she said.

“There are countless stories from employees who have been helped by him.”

As of The CJN’s deadline, negotiations with bidders for the chain were ongoing.