Shortcake Bakery closes as owner embraces retirement

By ETHAN THERRIEN

Shortcake Bakery, a community-beloved dessert and baked goods shop in Hyattsville, has permanently closed, as owner Cheryl Harrington has decided to retire.

In an interview with Streetcar Suburbs, Harrington cited recent personal struggles and health scares as the reason for the decision, but clarified that the decision wasn’t easy. 

“I have flour in my veins,” she said. “Baking comes kind of naturally to me, and I really enjoy it. Since the passing of my husband and my mom, I just found a great deal of calmness. So I think that was part of the reason I was so hesitant to come to the decision to give it up.”

Still, Harrington said those recent family deaths had a heavy influence on her decision to retire.

“Once you have that kind of experience, your mortality becomes more of a thing,” Harrington said. “So I decided this was the time to do it.”

The decision to retire coincided with the ending of her lease of the bright pink 4700 Rhode Island Avenue building. While Harrington tried to renew her lease with landlord Stuart Eisenberg, via a short-term extension, it, along with the need to renew a separate health department license, would have been expensive — fees that Harrington did not want to pay given her age. 

“I didn’t want to invest that money if it meant my time would be short, so that’s why [the decision] seems sudden,” she said.

In an interview with The Hyattsville Wire, Eisenberg said that he was unable to make the short-term lease renewal work due to his own business needs. With Harrington’s health department license already ending on Oct. 31, Eisenberg agreed to release her from the lease with no penalty, according to The Wire.

Harrington said that the night before making her decision, she went to sleep not knowing what she would do. 

“It rained so hard that night,” Harrington said. “It was just signaling to me, and I said, ‘That’s my signal, time for me to leave.’”

Harrington said the perceived suddenness of closure after 13 years doesn’t diminish the gratitude she feels toward her customers for sticking with her throughout her baking career. 

“I have the best customers in the world,” she said.

Her customers had positive things to say in return — including a number of crayon-scribbled drawings and thank-you notes written to Harrington over the years by her regular shoppers.

Over 200 people showed up at the bakery on its closing day — Halloween — with flowers and hugs for one final goodbye. Hyattsville resident Sharon Crowell, a long-time customer of the bakery, said that Harrington’s chocolate cake in particular will forever stand out to her.

“Oh my goodness, so many memories,” said Crowell. “Chocolate cake, it’s my husband’s favorite, like ever. She has ruined chocolate cake for him from anywhere else.”

Harrington’s employees felt the gratitude, even as they grapple with the impacts of her decision to close and start to plan for their own futures.

“I’m gonna get some sort of customer service job,” said Anna Lawrence, who worked at Shortcake up until closing. “But Cheryl taught us more than just customer service. I truly feel like I could work anywhere. She’s the nicest person I’ve ever known.”

Karina Young, a former employee of the bakery, said that her time and experience working at Shortcake Bakery inspired her to open a business selling homemade dog treats.

“I got the idea for my new business, the Blue Basset Barkery in Colmar Manor, from a Shortcake customer who adopted a dog during COVID-19,” said Young. “He came in and wanted to buy his dog treats from the same place he bought his other baked goods, and when I heard that, a light came into my brain.”

Although her bakery won’t have a physical presence anymore, Harrington hopes that she left a long-lasting legacy and positive impact on the local community.

“I hope that 10 years from now, they will say, ‘Do you remember that pink building?’” said Harrington. “‘Do you remember Shortcake Bakery?’”

She added, “I feel like I introduced or reintroduced my customers to good baked goods.”

As for her retirement plans, Harrington does not know for sure what she will do yet. But one thing is for certain: She wants to travel.

“I want to reconnect with family,” said Harrington. “I have a niece who lives in San Francisco; she’s been asking me to visit. I have a niece who lives in the Netherlands; she’s been asking me to visit. So I think those are probably two of the first trips I’ll take.”

“I’ll be that auntie who shows up and stays with the niece,” she added.

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Ethan Therrien is an undergraduate journalism student at the University of Maryland.