Wanting to fulfill constant request from their customers in East Wenatchee, the El Padrino chain of central Washington bakeries opened a third store, this time in Quincy.
The store is located inside Quincy Public Market on F Street, and it’s a wish come true to many customers who no longer have to travel to East Wenatchee or to the second bakery in Kennewick to get their fix of Mexican-style baked goods such as their legendary bolillo (boll-EE-yo).
“Our customers have asked us,” said Veronica Gomez, the owner of the bakery, who described the chain of bakeries as a family affair, with 10 relatives working the stores.
“It’s going to be a little difficult to tend to all three, but in our own way, we are making it happen,” she said.
So far, customers seem to endorse the decision to open a third bakery, with the store running out of bread on its second day, and having to make a run to Wenatchee to get some more. The Quincy branch makes its goods in East Wenatchee and bakes them in Quincy.
“It was embarrassing, by 11 a.m. we had nothing on the shelves,” Gomez said, while customers kept trickling in on that second day.
“Every time we go to Wenatchee, I feel like stopping by, but since we are always in a hurry we never can make it,” said Ephrata’s Arcelia Gomez (no relation) while she bought bolillo from Veronica.
“It’s better now that the shop is in Quincy, but it would be even better if it was in Ephrata, because over there we got nothing,” said Arcelia, whose husband stood by her and applauded the decision to open a store closer by.
“We know we have a lot of customers, but I did not think we would do this well,” Veronica said, adding that in the weeks prior to opening, while they got the shop ready, they already had customers stopping by and asking how long until they could buy treats.
The first El Padrino bakery opened in 2017 in East Wenatchee. And “if God allows it and we all have our health, we are going to keep on” opening branches, Veronica said.
The pandemic hurt, but they did not close at any time, she said. And now they are opening number three.
The folks at the market were a little skeptical about letting in another bakery, Veronica said, since they had already seen one come and go, but their trust is paying off, she added.
“Our customers started coming by two weeks in advance,” Veronica said.