Arthur Avenue bakeries celebrate Easter with special treats

Pastry shops in the Bronx’s Little Italy are celebrating the extra boost in business the Easter holiday is giving them, especially after the challenges of the pandemic.

“We usually do some stuff that we don’t make on any other holiday,” says Jerome Raguso, owner of Gino’s Pastry shop.

Extra treats at Gino’s on East 187th Street includes fully edible lamb figurines made entirely out of marzipan.

Artuso’s Pastry shop makes struffoli honey balls for the holiday.

“It’s a big holiday for this neighborhood,” says Anthony Arturo, Sr. “People come down and shop from all over.”

Ricardo Perez drove from Yonkers to buy some special treats.

“I come here for the tiramisu and the tres leches,” says Perez.

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For small businesses like these bakeries, the pandemic has been extremely tough. Some were closed for two months and many of their orders were canceled.

Now their businesses are starting to flourish once again.

“The locals love us and we love them,” says Arturo. “When we reopened, they thanked us and we thanked them for coming back.”

For these bakeries, this year feels a little extra special.

“I got to see customers that have been coming to us for 30, 40 years,” says Raguso. “There’s some kind of normalcy.”

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