WEST, Texas (KWTX) – The Village Bakery, a well-known Czech bakery in the West, is under new ownership and preparing to reopen after being closed for more than five years.

Shelly and Darrell Miller are the new owners of The Village Bakery, known as the first Czech bakery in the state for its kolaches, klobasnik, buchta, Moravian spice cookies and cinnamon rolls.

The Millers have lived in the West for nearly 25 years, and in 2018 they purchased the neighboring store, The Village Shoppe, which is owned by the same family as the bakery.

Shelly said The Village Bakery was previously owned by beloved baker Mimi Montgomery. His parents and grandmother, Georgia, Wendel and ‘Honey’ Montgomery, opened the bakery in 1952, where they developed the kolache recipe on a larger scale and added meat to create the ‘klobasnik’.

Village Bakery closed suddenly after Mimi passed away more than five years ago In 2019.

It has remained virtually untouched since then, and Shelly said she has seen customers continue to walk toward the front of the store for years.

“After seeing the bakery sitting vacant for five and a half years and noticing there were a lot of customers pushing the door thinking it was still open, Darrell and I decided to purchase the bakery and renovate the building and “Keep the Tradition” in downtown West,” Shelly told KWTX.

He said they have received tremendous support since purchasing the bakery in early October.

“Our customers from near and far have reached out to congratulate us on the purchase and to let us know how excited they are to once again experience the delicious treats developed by this wonderful family,” he said.

Shelly said they plan to use the original recipes and hope to rehire some of the previous employees.

Shelly and Darrell plan to reopen The Village Bakery in early 2025. You can follow the linked Facebook page. Here.

Copyright 2024 KWTX. All rights reserved.