Four years after it started serving high-end takes on iconic mass market desserts like Yodels and Twinkies, The Snackery shuttered its location at 64 Purchase St. at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, a new men’s clothing store called Baxter in Rye plans to open, and a dog grooming and accessories store is going independent.
The closing of The Snackery marked the end of a nearly 18-year culinary odyssey for owner Sara Leand, who sold her original creations wholesale for a decade before operating retail locations first in Larchmont and then in Rye.
Citing significant life challenges she has faced in the last year, Leand wrote that she had decided to discontinue operations of the bakery café to “devote full energy to my family.”
The announcement brought an outpouring on Facebook of sympathy and disappointment from customers. “I am so sad!!! I absolutely love your bakery more than any other in all of New York!,” wrote Gigi Sachs Eisenberg, who added a request for Leand’s recipe for Yodels so she could try making them herself.
Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel, known for creating the Skinnygirl brand of diet-friendly food products, took to Instagram in October 2024 to extol the desserts after a popping into the Purchase Street bakery.
“This is the best bakery I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” Frankel, a Greenwich resident, gushed on an Instagram post that showed her perusing The Snackery’s products. “This is insane.”
No one has yet committed to taking over the vacated retail space, according to Pam Strauss, a commercial real estate agent who handles the property through her firm, Retail Strategies.
Across Rye’s main shopping street, interior renovations were underway this week to convert the former Capital One bank branch space at 57 Purchase St. into a men’s and women’s clothing store called Baxter in Rye.
The store — expected to open this spring — is to be the first in a nationwide chain of “curated, community-based stores” being developed by a new company led by Timothy Baxter, a Rye-resident since 2016 whose long retail career includes stints as the chief merchandising officer of Macy’s and CEO of Express.
Baxter said the store’s blend of contemporary and luxury brands should complement the offerings of other Rye downtown retailers.
Baxter In Rye’s opening will mark the return of ready-to-wear men’s apparel to downtown Rye for the first time since Jos. A Bank closed its Purchase St. location in 2020.
After nine years of operating as a franchise of Woofgang Bakery & Grooming, owner Debra Love started 2026 by converting her 62 Purchase St. location into an independent business with the name Furever Love.
No longer a part of the national chain, Furever Love’s remodeled store offers grooming services and a wide selection of retail items for the care and pampering of pets.
