This SLO County business survived COVID — and now it’s thriving under a strange new name
Before COVID, the Eclair Bakery in the Village of Arroyo Grande did a decent walk-in business selling — you guessed it — eclairs, along with scones, cupcakes, cookies and all the other usual treats you’d expect at a bakery.
Then the pandemic hit.
Like so many businesses, Eclair had to dramatically scale back. It offered curbside pickup for a while, but then shut its doors entirely, announcing to customers that it was undergoing remodeling.
There were some hiccups in the renovation — permitting was an involved process, some building supplies were on back-order and one of the owners, Amanda Haynes, was sidelined with an injury for several weeks.
But finally the business reopened recently with a new look and a buzzy new name — Mule Bakery and Cafe.
At first, customers were puzzled.
“It doesn’t indicate what it is,” said Maureen Reilly, a regular who’s hooked on the scones.
Some thought the bakery had changed hands (it hadn’t).
Others just wanted to know the story behind the name — a question that still comes up at least once a day, if not four or five times.
It is a seriously weird name for a bakery.
Rooster bakery — after the Village’s iconic flock of fowl — maybe.
But mule? The very word is synonymous with stubbornness — and conjures up visions of dusty old dudes with scraggly beards forlornly searching for the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine.
Hold on, though — there’s a multi-layered reason for the name.
It has to do with family history.
Years ago, Amanda and her brother, Chandler Haynes, played music together and were looking for something to call themselves. They spotted a “Twenty Mule Team” sign at Death Valley. Something clicked — that became the name of their musical duo. They even joked that someday they would open a coffee shop and call it “Mule.”
Three years ago, they purchased Eclair Bakery from a previous owner, with an eye toward eventually rebranding it.
COVID sort of forced the issue — and there was that mulish name again, waiting in the wings.
Before making a final decision, Amanda did some research, and was struck by the fact that mules are burden bearers, which is exactly the role she and her brother hope to fill in the Village.
They want customers to feel they can open up and share what’s in their hearts. “We genuinely want to get to know people and share with them,” said Amanda.
Not that there’s a lot of time for that right now; most mornings, there’s a long line outside the business.
The Village recovers
It’s not just at Mule Bakery — there are signs of recovery elsewhere, too, in a community that, for all its cuteness, has had its share of setbacks. Even before COVID, vacant storefronts were scattered around town.
Then, like every other city in America, Arroyo Grande lost even more businesses during the pandemic; at one time three or four of the biggest commercial spaces in the heart of the Village were vacant, along with some smaller shops.
Over the past couple of months, things have been turning around; some of those vacant buildings on Branch Street are filling up.
Poke Morro II, a Hawaiian restaurant, now occupies a smallish building that used to be a children’s shop (that shop relocated down the street to a larger space).
A large antiques emporium, Rhonda’s Relics, opened just this week in the spot where Chameleon — a custom furniture and fabric shop — used to be.
A local church is reportedly expanding into the old Bank of America building that was vacated by a different antiques business, unrelated to Rhonda’s.
Over on nearby Traffic Way, Rugged Radios has opened inside an eye-catching, art- deco-meets-industrial complex the owner built from scratch, after outgrowing a space on East Grand Avenue.
Rugged Radios specializes in two-way communications equipment used in high-noise activities like off-roading, racing and agriculture.
It you’re not into those pursuits, there’s still something for you — a restaurant specializing in tacos will be opening soon, in a fun building that looks like a 1950s-era gas station.
There also are plenty of older, well-established businesses that survived COVID: Lightening Joe’s Guitar Heaven (the place with the Elvis statue out in front), Village Cafe, Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab, Arroyo Grande Meat Co. and Bill O’Connor’s Tavern, among others.
Outdoor dining may stay
Then there are the relative newcomers, including a couple of wine-tasting rooms, a brewery and some newer restaurants that were helped by the pivot to outdoor dining.
“Some of the restaurants had a really good year in 2020,” A.G. Mayor Caren Ray Russom said. “Outdoor dining was born of necessity but turned into economic lifeline. It gave us a glimpse of what the streetscape could look like.”
Like other local communities, Arroyo Grande is looking at retaining some of the popular outdoor dining spots post-COVID.
That, too, is a reinvention of sorts — maybe not as radical as a new name, but it signals a willingness to break with the old, pre-COVID way of doing things.
While the pandemic isn’t over yet — most businesses still are requiring masks and limiting occupancy — for the Village of Arroyo Grande, the worst appears to be over.
At Mule Bakery, business is better than ever.
“In my 12 years in Arroyo Grande, it’s never been like this,” said Amanda. “There are days we sell out like at 10:30. We’re wildly blessed.”
