Panera Bread coming to East Village Square

Will bring 50 jobs to the community

WEBSTER – Michael O’Brien, Principal of Galaxy Development, has announced that Panera Bread has signed a long term lease to build a new store at East Village Square in Webster.

East Village Square is presently under construction and will be anchored by a 70,000 square foot state-of-the-art Price Chopper grocery store. Panera plans to build a 4,200 s.f. bakery-café restaurant on the pad site at the corner of the property, which is located at the intersection of Rt. 12 and Rt. 16. The bakery-café style restaurants offer award winning selections of soups served in bread bowls, a wide variety of fresh salads, and made-to-order sandwiches, along with many other selections and fresh pastries and cookies.

Panera Bread started in 1981 and its headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri. They have nearly 1,600 stores in 41 US states. The new store in Webster will create approximately 50 new jobs. The company has an outstanding reputation for community involvement. With the Day End Dough Nation program, for example, Panera Bread donates all unsold baked goods to local area hunger relief agencies and charities.

All stores at East Village Square are expected to open in May of 2013. “We have had significant tenant interest in the one pad site we had available at East Village Square, and we couldn’t be happier than to team up with Panera Bread. It is a win-win for the town, the community and our project,” O’Brien said.

One of the most significant undertakings of the new shopping center will be the creation of a monument square at the intersection that will sit in front of the new Panera Bread restaurant. The focal point of the monument square will include the relocation of the clock tower that has been on the site since Samuel Slater operated the cotton mill on the property in the early 1800s. The moving of the clock tower will be near the end of September or the beginning of October.