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Business & Tech

Cafe-Bakery Coming to Central Avenue

Seminole Heights native Michelle DeMicco is locating her business in Old Seminole Heights for a second time.

No one can accuse Michelle DeMicco of not being true to her neighborhood. She grew up in Old Seminole Heights, is raising her three children there, and is planning to locate her business there. For a second time. 

Mikey's Cafe & Bakery, currently at 2606 W Hillsborough Ave., will soon move to 6114 N Central Ave. “I love the street, love the neighborhood,” said DeMicco, who hopes to open in late February.

DeMicco first set up shop in Seminole Heights in early 2007 when she and her then-husband Victor DeMicco opened Custom Creations and Events at 6420 N Central Ave. From there they offered full service event and wedding production. When the recession hit in 2008, “The wedding industry took a huge hit,” said DeMicco. “Corporate events, too.”

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Later that year Michelle DeMicco decided to get back to her baking and food service roots, so she decided to add a cafe and bakery element to the business and pared down the event planning aspects. “No florists, linens and lighting,” she said. She also moved the business to its current location, inside the old Pickford's Sundries building on Hillsborough Avenue, and changed the name to Mikey's Cafe-Bakery. Mikey happens to be DeMicco's nickname.

Now DeMicco wants to move her business back to Seminole Heights, in the 1,000-square-foot storefront that was last occupied by . “I love the building,” DeMicco said of the 3,200-square-foot Pickford's Sundries building, “and I would love to stay. But it's a lot of square footage for what we're doing.”

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What DeMicco and her staff are doing is a cafe that serves gourmet sandwiches, soups and salads — and features hand-pulled sodas from the fountain with dozens of flavor syrups to choose from — plus a dessert bakery that accomodates custom orders. DeMicco said everything from the cafe and bakery menus, including fountain sodas, will be offered at the new location.

The historic ambiance afforded by Pickford's, a former drugstore and diner that served as a neighborhood landmark from 1950 to 1998, is something DeMicco plans to continue in the 1926 building on Central Avenue. There'll be seating for 20 inside, along with another 16 to 20 outside.

Bad timing may have played a role in her first go around as a Seminole Heights merchant, but now DeMicco feels more confident in her choice to return to the neighborhood. “It seems to be that the stereotype that Seminole Heights used to have — that it's kind of a bad area — is diminishing. I've lived here a long time, and I've seen it come a long way.”

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