|
Article Audio:
|
SCHENECTADY — The former Puzzles Bakery & Cafe, closed during the pandemic, is being “reimagined” as a coffee bar, eatery and bookstore in Schenectady.
Renamed Novel BIBLIO•BREW, owner and member of the Schenectady County Legislature Sara Mae Pratt announced that the new business will be opening its doors in the coming weeks.
“The new business, we’re still in the same space, on paper we’re still the same LLC,” Pratt said. “We did temporarily close, and we’re reopening with a new name. Puzzles Bakery and Cafe as we knew it unfortunately no longer exists, but this is kind of a new and exciting reimaging of the space, and energy mission and vision.”
Puzzles Bakery & Cafe opened on World Autism Awareness Day in 2015. The business worked to provide employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.
The bakery soon gained wide attention. In 2018, the Today Show even visited, highlighting Puzzles in a segment on the show. The business closed in 2020 because of the pandemic.
“It’s certainly at times been a long and thoughtful and emotional journey,” Pratt said. “And, the circumstances surrounding the pandemic kind of gave me the chance to gain a deeper appreciation for things like locally sourced food, just the importance of small businesses in our community.”
The business has a room fully devoted to children, Pratt said. She said the children’s area has books, Montessori-based toys and other quality items for children to play with and for adults to purchase.
“We’ll be hosting things like story time, music and movement, and giving children and their care-givers the opportunity to recharge and connect with community and just have fun and enjoy themselves.” Pratt expects the book element of Novel to be the most exciting new part of the business.
“I would say we’re kind of a bite-size book store,” Pratt said. “We have a small offering of new books for sale, as well as different items, gifts, board games, some locally sourced soap and candles, all sorts of things for people to get into and enjoy. It’s something we weren’t doing before, but I think the pandemic gave us a chance to reconsider what we were doing at Puzzles and maybe it was time to diversify our offerings.”
A number of employees at Novel BIBLIO•BREW are former Puzzles employees. The inspiration for Puzzles, in part, came from Pratt’s experience in having a sister who is on the autism spectrum.
“Growing up I had a close understanding of what it looks like for individuals of different abilities to, kind of age out of the education system and enter the workforce,” Pratt said. “Unfortunately, it’s just a very difficult time. Family members describe it as ‘falling off of a cliff.’ They are very supported during the time of education then all of the sudden, thrust into the world with very little in the way of support. We do need more employers who are willing to hire people of different abilities and to take a chance on people who are differently abled.”
Puzzles had employed hundreds of people over the five years it was open, Pratt said.
GAZETTE COVERAGE
Ensure access to everything we do, today and every day, check out our subscribe page at DailyGazette.com/SubscribeMore from The Daily Gazette:
Faceoff duo of Lussier, Kuhn has Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake boys' lacrosse team going in right direct...
Section 2 track and field: Mayfield/Northville sweeps Group 4 team championships; Stillwater's Zazza...
ValleyCats score three in seventh to beat ThunderBolts
Section 2 baseball: Ichabod Crane beats Cohoes for Class B crown
Section 2 girls' lacrosse: Koval's OT goal gives Schuylerville Class D title
Categories: Email Newsletter, News, News, Schenectady, Schenectady County
