In its heyday, Rilling’s Bakery had eight locations in Philadelphia. The last outpost closes on March 2 in Warminster.
The area will lose one of those local gems come March 2, when Rilling’s Bakery closes the doors to its Warminster location in the Davisville Shopping Center. It marks the last chapter of an 88-year family legacy. Retirement has been on Michael’s horizon for a couple years. “It’s not that the business is not good. It’s just the frustration of the day-to-day operations,” he said. “It’s time, after 44 years of me working full-time six, seven days a week.”
The Rillings moved their outfit to then-rural Castor Avenue in 1939 and ran it for years before selling in 1948. They took a breather before repeating the pattern again and again, hopscotching through the Northeast as they did so. They had a bakery in Mayfair at 7328 Frankford Ave. from 1948 to ‘52. From ’53 to ’59, they were at 11704 Bustleton Ave. in Somerton. In 1962, they opened 8756 Frankford Ave., near Pennypack Woods.
With the Pennypack store humming along, the Volzes opened the Warminster store in 1981, in what was then a family-owned shopping center with a supermarket. A third store came online at 7959 Verree Rd. in 1983. A Suburban Station outpost followed in 1984, the same year the family broke ground on a 20,000-square-foot bakery at 2990 Southampton Rd. The plant would supply breads, cakes, and pastries for all Rilling’s outposts, which peaked at seven locations.
It’s a lot of history to walk away from, but Michael and Diane are at peace with it. Even as they relish in hearing from old customers, they stand firm in the decision.