Arlington’s LeoNora Gourmet Bakery, which offers its artisan baked goods via delivery and through a couple of local retailers, will soon have its first brick-and-mortar storefront.
The bakery is opening a store at 1108 N. Irving Street. Clarendon’s grungiest block — home to the Red Top Cab parking lot and to the no-frills Sam’s Corner deli — will soon be filled with the aroma of fresh-baked bread, as LeoNora plans to do all its baking in-house, in a bakery area behind the front counter.
Colombian-born bakery owner Carolina Garcia says that after a year and a half in the delivery business, LeoNora is ready to have a storefront to call its own.
“We realized that people really wanted a retail store,” Garcia told ARLnow.com. “That’s why we decided to open… they want the option to go and pick it up somewhere nearby.”
Currently, LeoNora’s baked goods are available for purchase at local retailers like Whole Foods, Arrowine and Boccato Gelato. The bakery will still offer free delivery to customers in D.C. and parts of Northern Virginia when the store opens, but Garcia says the minimum order will increase from $30 to $50.
Garcia, who trained as a baker and pastry chef in France, makes French baguettes, sourdough loafs, cakes, quiches and various pastries. Her inspiring economist-to-bakery-owner story has been told by news outlets from TBD to CNN to Northern Virginia Magazine.
Garcia says she hopes to have the new store open in a couple of weeks.
“It’s going great, we are very happy,” she said.