Owner Walt Hohman is selling everything in the bakery this weekend
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK
Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — Wards Pastry, a mainstay of Asbury Avenue for nearly a century, a place where locals and visitors alike bought all kinds of delicious baked goods, is having one last sale — but the goods will be more bitter than sweet.
Owner Walt Hohman announced via Facebook Sept. 10 that the bakery at 730 Asbury Ave. would be closing. Now he is selling off everything left in the store Oct. 8-9.
“After being an Ocean City tradition for over 98 years, Wards Pastry will be turning off its ovens Sunday, September 18, 2022 for the last time,” the post stated.
“The Hohman family would like to thank everyone for choosing Wards Pastry to be part of their celebrations through all of these years. Thank you for all of your support!”
Hohman said he is the third-generation owner of the business and has spent his life there.
“Every summer until I got out of high school and full time every day since then,” he said.
His grandfather Charlie Hohman bought the bakery in 1941, followed by his father, Jan Hohman, who took over in 1973. He said he has worked there for 45 years, since 1976, and owned the bakery for 34 years.
Hohman has been selling off his collection of more than 600 cookie jars. He said Sept. 28 that he had sold more than 500 the previous week and there were 50 to 60 left.
“Everybody wanted one,” he said. “We got slammed — we had no idea we were going to do that.”
He said some sold for $10 or $20 but averaged between $150 and $170 and topped off at $500.
He also will be selling “whatever is left in the building” — from baking sheets to pans, mixers and racks to tools and supplies — from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8-9, the weekend of the Fall Block Party.
“We’ve been here in this building for 50 years,” he said. “Just a lot of stuff in general.”
He said the past couple of weeks have been emotional.
“It’s tough, we’ve had an outpouring of people coming in to give us their stories and wish us well,” Hohman said. “It has been amazing, just trying to catch up with everyone.”
He said a man came in to tell him he had baked 69 of his birthday cakes.
“That’s a real tribute and we appreciate that,” he said.
Hohman said it was a difficult decision “but we had to make it.”
He said he tried to sell the business so a bakery would remain at the spot downtown but ended up selling only the building.
Hohman said demand for fresh baked goods “isn’t what it used to be,” noting the prevalence of chain stores competing for his sales but also the difficulties with running a small business.
“Supply shortages, cost of goods, cost of labor all added up and snowballed into, ‘Let’s make a decision,” he said. “Instead of dragging it out and going under, we decided to go out when we still could.”
Hohman said he will miss the customers and employees, many whom he has known for decades.
“I have worked with probably more than 600 different people over the years,” he said. “Some I don’t remember but I have had some great times with others.”