Sweet Lady Jane Closes Bakery on Montana Avenue, And It's Other Six Locations

Sweet Lady Jane bakery closed all 7 of its locations on Sunday December 31, including it’s location at 17th Street and Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. The chain issued a press release that said:

"We did not come to this decision lightly nor quickly. While the support and loyalty of our customers has been strong, sales are not enough to continue doing business in the state of California, allowing us to service our lease obligations and pay our treasured employees a living wage without passing those costs directly on to you."

The costs of security, inflation, wage and employment regulations plus taxes appears to have doomed another family owned business.

Sweet Lady Janes locations included bakeries in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Encino, Calabasas and San Fernando. All are now closed.

The business sold upscale pasteries, such as lemonsquares for $5, and brownies with sea salt for $4.50. Many mourned the loss of Sweet Lady Jane.

"The abrupt closure of Sweet Lady Jane doesn’t make any sense,” tweeted Allen J. Wilson. "The company had a revenue of $20M, seems to expanded too fast by burning cash and blames paying “employees living wage.” Possibly and recently “acquired/merged”. Wilson cited to a New York Times profile on the founder, in 2007:

https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9A00E2D8153FF931A35751C0A9619C8B63.html