Main Street Bakery: There's a New Baker in Town

If you haven't walked Main Street lately, you may have missed the soft but momentous opening of Eric's Main Street Bakery.

With all due respect to Justin Timberlake, Eric Tedder is bringing pastry back – to Main Street.

"I opened the day before Thanksgiving," says Tedder, who takes a break from baking to talk about what it means to a hometown boy to have a bakery on Main Street.

"I grew up here," says the 1981 graduate of Nashua High School. "In fact, I used to own a print shop on Factory Street. The best part of being here is the people. They are so outgoing and warm."

That's not the sugar talking. Tedder hardly eats sweets, anymore. After all these years of baking, he's learned to sample in small amounts to keep the calories at bay.

Rather, it's his years of experience as a bakery owner talking – Tedder learned the ropes at various shops in Boston, after marrying into a baking family. Then he and his ex-wife opened Blackberry Bakery in downtown Derry a decade ago, which was a Main Street hot spot for several years. Despite the bakery's success, the couple sold the business when the marriage ended, going their separate ways. Blackberry reopened down the road in Londonderry, and Tedder resurfaced a few years later with a small counter space at the Derry Quik Mart.

Moving back home to Nashua feels right, Tedder says.

"If I had the time I'd love to just sit here and watch all the people walking by on Main Street," says Tedder, whisking a tray of chocolate enrobed eclairs from the pastry case, to give a curious customer a closer look.

"Derry was nice. I had nice neighbors there, but Nashua is phenomenal. I like to say that, as cold as it gets here, there are so many warm hearts in this Nashua neighborhood," Tedder says.

Tedder takes great pride in his pastries, and makes the Italian creme filling and ganache fresh in his shop. Muffins and danish are baked fresh daily and sell for $1.75. Most pastries, including the eclairs, raspberry creme turnovers, and TV Bars are $2.75. Fruit pies are $10.

"Honestly, I don't know why they're called TV Bars – I learned to make them from an old baker in Boston, and that's what he called them. They're chocolate cake with buttercream icing dipped in chocolate," Tedder says.

Deb Zeman enters and steps up to the counter. She knows exactly what she wants.

"I need a birthday cake for January 26. It needs to have flowers on it and it needs to be purple. And it needs to say, 'Happy 4th Birthday Ruby,'" says Zeman, who begins to negotiate with Tedder over the details of the cake, which in the end, result in an order for a 12-inch round vanilla layer cake with a pudding center, featuring fresh flowers from a local florist, lavender icing and a pink and white bow.

"This is my first time in the shop. I was so excited to see that they were here. We got my daughter's first birthday cake across the street at Patisserie Bleu, which isn't there anymore," says Zeman, who feels supporting Nashua's downtown is important to the local economy.

Main Street Bakery fills the space previously occupied by Lovin' Cupcakes and Cannolies, which only lasted about a year, after the owner had to give up the shop for health reasons, Tedder says.

"It's definitely a stressful business. I start my day at about 4 a.m. to come and and make the danish and muffins. Some nights it's hard to sleep, thinking about everything that has to be done, but you have to get up and get started, no matter what," Tedder says.

Eric's Main Street Bakery is located at 182 Main Street. Hours are Tuesday - Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The shop is closed on Mondays. You can find more cake and pastry photos on Main Street Bakery's Facebook page.