The Last Muffin's About To Leave Sharon Station

Jenner Aycock pulls into the Sharon MBTA commuter rail station around 4:30 each weekday morning and begins baking.

The aromas of fresh muffins -- her own recipe -- and fresh coffee greet the commuters awaiting the morning's first train, the 5:44 a.m. to Boston.

On Feb. 25, the aromas leave the Sharon station for the last time.

Aycock's Sharon Depot coffee shop will close that day, nearly two years after she served her first traveler in space she leases from the MBTA.

Aycock said Friday that "I've been running at a loss."

The Sharon resident said she's trying to sell the business, which she bought in June 2009, to recoup her costs.

"Those people who are traveling are trying to save a penny by bringing their own coffee," Aycock said.

"Starting out, it was pretty good with the potential for growth. But with the recession, so many people are losing their jobs and therefore not traveling."

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo told Sharon Patch that the Sharon Advocate will run an ad soliciting vendors on Feb. 18.

"A resident of Sharon has already expressed an interest, and our real estate staff will meet with him next week," Pesaturo said in an e-mail.

"In the meantime,  the MBTA has offered the current vendor a proposal to stay a month longer (at a reduced rent) to keep the depot building open for commuters."

Aycock said that "I can't afford to stay for another month unless I'm able to sell my business to someone else."

"Then, I can recoup my costs," she said.

Aycock said she pays the MBTA $400 per month in rent to keep the station, at 1 Upland Road, open from 5:30 to 10:30 a.m. weekdays.

However, the MBTA also requires her to keep the bathrooms clean and stocked, and sell tickets, she said.

Ticket sales have consumed about 80 percent of her time, she said.

Besides her homemade muffins and fresh coffee, Aycock's menu has included croissants, and such beverages as Earl Grey and herbal tea, and protein shakes.

She initially offered meals from the Main Course Market in Cobb's Corner in Canton.

"The follow-up really didn't happen. I tried it for about eight months," Aycock said.

Aycock said she was a Starbucks employee who used the Sharon station before buying the Depot, which was a coffee shop then too.

"I liked the idea of a coffee shop. I saw that it had potential," she said.

Aycock since added her own touches: new cabinets, and tables and chairs.

"Those things will have to come with me unless I sell the business," she said.

Given the economy, the business is better suited to supplement someone's income rather than serve as their sole job, Aycock said.

"As a sole income, you really can't make enough money," she said.

In a handout to customers, Aycock said she'll focus on her Pampered Chef business. She also does knitting workshops. And she'll accept muffins orders online.

At the Sharon Depot, Aycock said she's receptive to opening another coffee shop.

"I do really good coffee," she said.

"I do fantastic muffins."