Comet Bakery at 640 W. Woodbine Ave. in Kirkwood has finally reopened for retail service after closing in 2020 due to the pandemic, which was announced in an Instagram post.
Since its closure, the bakery has served as a commissary kitchen for Comet Coffee, located at 5708 Oakland Ave. Additionally, the Kirkwood bakery has served as a space to bake the offerings Comet Coffee sold at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market during the 2023 season.
Last autumn, brothers Matt and Tim Garvey, who started Pretzel Boy’s in 2011, purchased Comet Coffee. Between the cafe and bakery coming under new ownership and the success that the business has seen at the market, 2024 felt like the perfect time to reopen its Kirkwood space.
Bakers Kyle Shelby and Natalie Suntrup manage and operate the Kirkwood location, and the bakery serves what they call a “croissant-centered” menu. The bakery’s offerings include croissants and other pastries that guests are used to finding at the Oakland Avenue location and farmers market, as well as some seasonal or savory options that don’t pair as well with coffee.
“On any given day, there’s a couple cookie options and croissants, but we also like to incorporate seasonal ingredients into a croissant-style Danish,” said Shelby.
Inside, guests are greeted by walls in a baby blue hue, lots of stainless steel baking and kitchen equipment and white concrete floors. “It’s the epitome of an open concept space,” Shelby said of the bakery’s aesthetic.
There are three bar seats inside, but the bakery’s main focus is on a carryout service model and making it a space where the bakers can stay attuned to their craft. Ultimately, the baking team said their goal with the retail space is to provide customers with a different perspective on laminated dough.
“We like to think of ourselves as artisans and our medium is dough. We try to play around with shapes and flavors, but also offer traditional croissant flavors like butter, ham and cheese and chocolate,” said Suntrup.
In addition to the bakery reopening, there’s a few changes that took place at the Oakland Avenue space. In a phone conversation, Matt Garvey told Sauce that the cafe received a few upgrades in late December that included adding a coffee subscription service, reconfiguring the space to add a few more seats and some cosmetic improvements.
This article appears in January 2024.