Employees, neighbors commemorate Wayland Bakery following closure

Wayland Square looks back on 94-year community staple, looks ahead to future

BY LYNN NGUYEN STAFF WRITER

After nearly a century in operation, Wayland Bakery closed Dec. 31. The shop, which opened in 1928, stood on Wayland Avenue, serving freshly baked goods and hot lunches to both the Brown and East Side communities.

While activity at the bakery has ceased, the owners have shifted focus to their other business, Zaccagnini’s Pastry Shoppe in Pawtucket. The owners declined to comment on Wayland Bakery’s closing, but their daughter Juliana Rodriguez wrote about her experience with the bakery in a message to The Herald.

Wayland Bakery sought to be a “community-based establishment” that “would provide the freshest baked goods that remind you of home,” Rodriguez wrote. “What started off as a family-run bakery turned into a huge staple in the East Side community.”

The bakery continued to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic despite the “loss of customers, loss of profit and increase of supply costs,” she wrote.

But the bakery’s closing doesn’t mean Wayland’s favorite delights are gone. “The memory of Wayland Bakery will remain alive,” with the same pastries being sold at Zaccagnini’s, Rodriguez wrote. “We encourage everyone to visit Zaccagnini’s, where everything is created with the same attention and love” and Wayland Bakery’s “sense of home” still permeates, she added.

The “iconic” bakery prepared former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s wedding cake, which attracted people to snap pictures of their shop sign, said Jessica Leach, owner of Opt Eyewear Boutique, a family-owned optical shop located next to Wayland Bakery.

The bakery’s closing came as a shock to Leach, who said she was not “notified” about the closing of the bakery until “finding out on the news.”

“It’s going to be strange without (the bakery) there,” she said.

Other business owners in Way - land Square expressed their sadness over the loss of the bakery but remain optimistic about the future and Zaccagnini’s continued offerings.

McBride’s Pub, another long-established restaurant in Wayland Square, featured Wayland Bakery’s apple pie on their menu. “We would order (one-to-two) pies weekly and pick them up,” wrote Manager Jennifer Monastesse in an email to The Herald. “Thankfully (Zaccagnini’s) is delivering pies to us so we will be able to serve the same product going forward.”

Monastesse recalled how she

“loved grabbing their lunch deal of a sandwich, bag of chips and a cookie.”

“We will miss them but are excited to be able to support” Zaccagnini’s, she wrote.

“You felt like home when you walked in the doors. No (digital sales) systems, handwritten tickets and an old-school cash register,” Monastesse added. “Nothing else can replace” the bakery.

Sergio Mendoza, owner of Madrid European Bakery and Patisserie, is a newcomer to Wayland Square but knows that Wayland Bakery was “wellliked” with “loyal fans.” The closing

“surprised and saddened” him, Mendoza wrote in an email to The Herald.

“Whenever a bakery is open for as long as Wayland Bakery was, having its doors close signals the end of an era,” Mendoza wrote. The shop “symbolized the loss of a classic staple of Wayland Square.”

But despite the closing of the bakery, Mendoza remains optimistic about the future of Wayland Square. “With the series of vibrant bakeries and restaurants that are newly open,” he wrote, “we trust that Wayland Square will continue to have a lot to offer the community.”

Shopping period can be hectic and stressful. Professors should keep that in mind

As shopping period rolls around once more, every student at Brown is reminded of the joys and challenges of the open curriculum. The two weeks at the beginning of each semester find students packing into lecture halls, sending flurries of emails begging for override codes and juggling lengthy to-do lists to keep up with all the classes they are considering. Despite the chaos, shopping period is an essential part of the open curriculum — but for it to be feasible, professors need to keep major assignments out of shopping period.

According to University resources, shopping period is a “hallmark of the Brown open curriculum” which “provides students the ability to explore subject matters in line with their interests.” Shopping period grants students the chance to try a variety of classes, meet professors and test out different schedules. Because the open curriculum offers so many options, students need this time to explore classes and make informed decisions about how to spend their semesters.

Of course, that exploration requires that students make time to attend and keep up with many classes. Shopping period can be stressful for students trying to manage work for all of the classes they are shopping, a number which can end up as double or triple a full course load. No one wants to come out of shopping period registered for a course only to have eight late assignments due. But the choice between that or dropping an otherwise intriguing class often arises when there are major assignments during shopping period.

To be clear, not all assignments are equal in scope or equal in the burden they place on students. Assigning a lengthy essay differs greatly from having students try a weekly problem set or an ungraded discussion post. An assignment due the first or second time a class meets is also quite different from an assignment due the last day of shopping period, once many students have settled their schedules. Professors must exercise discretion when planning assignments at the beginning of a new semester.

We understand the value of engaging seriously with class material during these two weeks and appreciate that students should get a sense of what assignments are like before they are locked into their courses. But we ask that professors remember the important role shopping period plays in cultivating academic exploration. Students are disincentivized from exercising their intellectual curiosity when professors frontload coursework.

Professors, be cognizant of what class you are teaching. Students taking Orgo during shopping period are likely to stay in the class to fulfill concentration requirements. But students flitting in and out of seminars to manage their schedules, concentration requirements and interests are likely shopping many classes. Early assignments for the former are pretty reasonable, for the latter a potentially unnecessary stressor for students.

If you are a faculty member assigning work during shopping period, consider making those first couple of assignments ungraded or participation-based or even implementing a policy that allows students to drop their lowest grade from a series of assignments.

Put simply, please just be considerate of students as you plan your classes during shopping period.

Shopping period is an important part of the open curriculum and a Brown education, but it takes sacrifices. Racing back and forth across campus to attend five classes in a row is a hassle for students. Not knowing which or, likely worse, how many students are taking your class must be a pain for professors. And students should accept that shopping period might always be a bit stressful. But professors should also do what they can to not exacerbate the problem.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s Editorial Page Board. This editorial was written by its members Irene Chou ’23, Yasmeen Gaber ’23, Tom Li ’26, Jackson McGough ’23, Alissa Simon ’25, Kate Waisel ’24 and Yael Wellisch ’26.