The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Tasty Cakes: 'It's going to be along the lines of the village baker,' says Ann Zraick of Juliann's Bakery, which is scheduled to open on Lincoln Avenue by October.

European-style bakery rolls onto the Avenue

Willow Glen couple fulfills a dream and fills last slot in year-old retail site

By Cecily Barnes

About a year after wrecking balls felled the Electrical Appliance building on Lincoln Avenue, the new center constructed on the site is finally full up.

On June 15, Willow Glen residents Ann and Ron Zraick signed on as the final tenants in the new center. Their dream business, Juliann's Bakery, will join big-timers Jamba Juice, Noah's Bagels, Peet's Coffee & Tea and Petroglyph, as well as several smaller businesses that have leased space but are not yet open for business: Mio Vicino Italian restaurant, the Black Sea Gallery and Peninsula Beauty Supply. The Zraicks hope to open their bakery by Oct. 1.

"It's going to be along the lines of the village baker," Ann Zraick says excitedly. "We'll sell cakes and tarts, cinnamon rolls and cookies, pies, sticky buns and cheesecakes."

Leasing agent Dave Taxin says Juliann's is an ideal tenant because the owners are Willow Glen residents, and the business fills a need in the downtown area.

"As far as the downtown goes, there's no one doing what she's doing," Taxin said. "They had a good business plan, and we feel [a bakery] was a missing element."

Ever since Ann Zraick moved with her husband, Ron, to Willow Glen in 1986, she's nurtured the dream of opening a local, upscale, European-style bakery. In 1987, Zraick took time off from her job at Intel to attend Tante Marie's pastry school in San Francisco.

After earning her pastry chef license, she returned to Intel part-time, and began baking pastries part-time for Paolo's in downtown San Jose. But Zraick really wanted to run her own bakery.

She began looking for a desirable location, but after having no luck she put her dream on hold and returned to her job at Intel full-time. With Lincoln Avenue's recent boom in business and the availability of the space in between Petroglyph and Mio Vicino, Zraick decided the time had come.

"We're very excited to be in a spot like this," said Ron Zraick.

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