Last weekend, the Baker family decided they couldn't save the business that had served up butterhorns, cinnamon raisin bread and filled tea cookies to Pittsburghers for the past seven decades. The Jenny Lee Bakery, founded in 1938, would have to close.

"We've been working real hard to make it work," said a discouraged Bernard "Bernie" Baker yesterday after announcing his two stores, one in Downtown's Market Square and the other in McKees Rocks, would shut for good this weekend.

		Reader Forum What's your reaction to the news that Jenny Lee Bakery is closing? Post your comments in our business forum.

The family-owned bakery fell victim to a combination of its own unique issues and an unforgiving economy in which the costs of ingredients such as flour, shortening and sugar had more than doubled in recent months.

Market pressures came as Jenny Lee was trying to make a comeback following a devastating Thanksgiving fire in 2006 that shuttered the business for months. The family used insurance proceeds to fund a recovery but found the time away had cost them almost half their workforce as well as both wholesale and retail customers.

Mr. Baker broke the news to his three dozen remaining employees Wednesday, telling them, "I hope we'll be able to pay them but we can't promise it." Still, all but one showed up for work the next day anyway.

"They're just the greatest people in the world," he said emotionally. Many have been with the company 20 or 30 years, with one employee who started in the 1940s still coming in two days a week.

Independent bakeries have been disappearing for the past decade or longer. Customers who years ago made a bakery stop part of their grocery routine now have easy access to cake decorators and baked goods at supermarkets, warehouse clubs and mass merchants.

Jenny Lee Bakery survived longer than many. The bakery was opened Downtown by cousins Paul Baker and Bernard McDonald, according to the company's Web site. Originally they bought goods from the Seven Baker Brothers Bakery, operated by other family members.

Bernard Baker, son of one of the co-founders, came into the business after graduating from college in the late 1960s. That was in the midst of the retail bakery's hey-day when it grew to a total of 14 stores. When trends began changing, the company decided to grow its wholesale business out of the 25,000-square-foot McKees Rocks facility.

"It was really promising," Mr. Baker said. "We thought it had a great future." The company supplied 20 supermarkets before the fire, he said.

Grocery distributor SuperValu has been a customer, buying goods such as cinnamon raisin bread for sale in some Shop 'n Save locations. Kings Family Restaurants, based in White Oak, used the bakery's bread in French toast. Mr. Baker said the bakery is trying to help wholesale customers stock up until they find new suppliers.

The Bakers -- Bernard, his wife, Beverly, and son, Scott -- hope to avoid filing for bankruptcy. Mr. Baker said going that route often means creditors have to wait years while issues work their way through the court. He declined to release financial details.

Meanwhile, customers who heard the news yesterday began showing up at the Market Square site to mourn over a few, final indulgences.

Ashley Lietz and Phyllis Geanopulos both work at BNY Mellon but met for the first time at the Jenny Lee counter and commiserated.

"It's a shame," said Ms. Lietz, who had come to order a cake for Tuesday but learned the bakery would not be there next week. Both stores are scheduled to close for good at 3 p.m. Saturday. Ms. Lietz bought cupcakes and doughnuts instead.

"There's less and less of the smaller bakeries anymore," Ms. Geanopulos said. "Things change, but not always for the better.".....

Behind the counter, Kathleen "K.C." Ciganik and Teresa Pawlish were serving customers briskly and efficiently, only their reddened eyes betraying their inner state.

"It's like we're dreaming," Ms. Ciganik said, and Ms. Pawlish agreed with her statement, but refined it. "It's like a nightmare."

The timing of the Jenny Lee closing Downtown is ironic in that Market Square is in the midst of a business revival as development projects have begun nearby and the city works on plans to improve the distinctive setting.

"It's definitely better than it has been," said Nick Nicholas, operator of the Nicholas Coffee Co. on the square and owner of more than one building there, including the one that houses Jenny Lee. The bakery has been in the site since 1988, when he bought the building.

Despite the recent openings of chains such as Dunkin' Donuts and Moe's Southwest Grill, the square still claims such institutions as Primanti Brothers, Original Oyster House and Nicholas Coffee.

As for the Jenny Lee space, Mr. Nicholas plans to start looking for another baker to take the site, though that could be a challenge. "There's not too many left."

It's not clear what the future holds for the Bakers.

A statement Mr. Baker's son put together to explain the situation closed with a request: "It is with no options and great sadness that we will cease operations. Please keep the families whose lives depended on Jenny Lee Bakery in your thoughts and prayers."