Crowds of smiling customers with hands full of bread filled Paeillis Bakery on Saturday to celebrate the iconic Kenosha business’ 100th anniversary.
Throughout the day, the bakery offered sweet treats at sweet prices — 23-cent cyclops donuts and 23-cent loaves of bread — to mark its milestone anniversary.
“We’re back to 1923 prices,” said Dave Paielli, who runs the bakery with his brother Mark. “Actually, 23 cents is cheaper than the prices they were paying at the time. Bread was expensive then.”
Other deals included bread and donuts for $1. Customers were also able to treat themselves to a free slice of cake to celebrate the 100th anniversary.
The bakery at 6020 39th Ave. she also offered a deal to the 100th customer of the day, who arrived early around 7:35am
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“They got a gift basket, a $100 gift card and they got their items for free,” said saleswoman Kim Loepp.
Dave Paielli said some of the gifts in the gift basket included T-shirts and cookies.
Another special offer for customers, along with the free genetti samples, were special cyclops donut fillings that are not regularly offered, such as peppermint and peanut butter flavors.
“It’s nice to see people coming in like Sunday morning,” Mark Paielli said. “It’s going to be like that all day.”
Some customers saw a Facebook post from the bakery advertising the 23-cent deals and knew they had to come in.
“I’ve been in Kenosha for four years and this is the only bakery I come to,” said Leslie Horn, who woke up early to come. “It’s special to see the community come together.”
Paielli’s is a great asset to the community,” said Lori Skundberg, who also came to check out the offerings.
Other customers came to celebrate the milestone.
“We wanted to celebrate with family,” Kevin McTernan said. “It’s nice to see businesses last and be successful for so long.”
Some are loyal customers for life.
“I’ve been coming since I was a little girl and I love the family,” Lynn LeMay said. “It’s a staple. People who move away keep coming back and Paielli is their first stop.”
The centennial was especially sweet for Dave Paielli, who said his father was born, literally, into the family business.
“It’s nice to see the day coming,” Dave Paielli said. “For our 90th anniversary we had a car show in our car park and lots of people came with their classic cars. That was 10 years ago, but it feels like yesterday.”
Dave Paielli cites the bakery’s loyal customers for being a Kenosha staple for so long.
“I give it all to the customers,” he said. “They are the only reason we are here. We are honored to serve Kenoshi.”