Columbus Bakery upholds 4 ingredients, rises through 5 generations of Retzos
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Before the sun rises on 502 Pearl St., Jimmy Retzos Jr. and his son Aiden Retzos crank on the lights and the machinery of Columbus Baking Co. Between 5 and 6 a.m., they have the same routine. Flour billows in the air as the two knead dough for hundreds of loaves.
At around 8:30 a.m., a customer saunters in looking to order. But the bread’s still baking in the oven, and a second batch of dough is rising in the large wooden bread troughs. Jimmy Jr. lets him down easily.
“Just 20 more minutes,” he calls out. The regular nods and walks back out.
“Every day, he’s here at the same time,” Jimmy Jr. says while chuckling. “It’s always going to be the same thing bud.”
It’s an interaction Jimmy Jr. is accustomed to, having grown up with Columbus Bakery in his family lineage. Jimmy Jr. has been the bakery’s owner since taking over from his father Jimmy Sr. Retzos in 2021. The Retzos family has run the bakery for nearly five generations.
Columbus Bakery is a standstill Syracuse landmark. It was even inducted into the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry in 2022 by Rep. John Mannion. At a time of rising prices and technological advancements, Jimmy Jr. said walking into the bakery is like stepping back in time. It stands in its original building on the same street with the same ovens, mixers and bricks.
“Those bricks have been hot for 130 years,” Jimmy Jr. said.
Opened by a group of Italian immigrants in 1895, one of the only things that’s changed is the storefront’s glass window. Currently, its red lettering reads, “Columbus Baking Company. Italian style bread. Baking bread since 1895!”
After pointing to a mechanical brass cash register then to himself, his son and Alex working at the counter, Jimmy Jr. said, “That thing is older than all three of us combined.”
Columbus Bakery keeps it simple, selling fresh loaves and a small amount of pizza dough, meatballs and marinara sauce. And the bakery’s star product — the bread — hasn’t changed much over the years.
Aiden Retzos stuffs bread into a Columbus Baking Co. bag. The business makes four types of loaves: points, traditional sandwich, flats and raised rounds. Tara Deluca | Photo Editor
Just four simple ingredients churn in the industrial spiral mixer against the wall of the shop’s back room: flour, water, yeast and salt. Jimmy Jr., Aiden and other bakers roll the dough into four types of loaves: points, which are crustier, traditional sandwich, flats and raised rounds. Each loaf is $5.25, and the bakery only accepts cash.
Longtime Syracuse resident Kathy Lykudis still stops in Columbus Bakery before family dinners and holidays. It’s exactly the same as when she was a young girl who came to the bakery with her parents after church. Like many customers, they’d always buy at least two loaves: one for the road and one for the dinner table.
When Lykudis’ family from Maryland comes down to visit, Columbus Bakery is their last stop before driving back with a trunk full of fresh loaves.
To understand why customers like Lykudis pay the bakery regular visits and form friendships with the Retzos family, you’d have to go back nearly 100 years.
It all started with Angelo Retzos. The Greek and Macedonian immigrant landed in Syracuse in the 1930s with nothing to his name. No shoes, no money and no English, Angelo’s granddaughter Chrissey Retzos-Witt said.
In 1948, nearly 19 years into Angelo’s tenure at Columbus Bakery, his wife Angelina Retzos and his 19-year-old son George Retzos came to Syracuse.
George joined his father at the bakeshop, doing everything from sweeping floors to kneading dough. His daughter Chrissey said little by little, George bought the trust of the owners at the time. By 1974, he was the bakery’s sole proprietor.
“My father knew every customer because he was there 17 hours a day,” Chrissey said. “He never left. Sometimes he even slept in the back room on the flour bags. He appreciated it because he came from absolutely nothing.”
George’s three children, Jimmy Sr., Chrissey and their sister Alicia Messer, all started working for the family bakery at 14, 15 and 16 years old, respectively. Chrissey worked the counter and got to know customers, while Jimmy Sr. honed in on his baking craft. When it came time for George to retire in 2002, he handed Jimmy Sr. the bakery’s keys and sent him on his way.
George Retzos leans on a car outside Columbus Baking Co. In 1974, George became the sole proprietor of the spot. Courtesy of Chrissey Retzos-Witt
Although Jimmy Sr. had nearly 28 years of baking experience under his belt, it was daunting to cross over to ownership. But he relied on the consistent truths he knew about the bakery, and after a rough transition year, it was “smooth sailing,” he said.
“The way my father took care of the business, and his father, I just mirrored their work ethic,” Jimmy Sr. said. “I saw if it worked for them, it was going to work for me.”
His son Jimmy Jr. followed a similar timeline. Jimmy Jr. attended college for a year then left to work at Columbus Bakery at 20. Learning wasn’t easy, as “old school” Greek bakers could be harsh critics of his loaves. But when he thinks back on his years at the bakery, it’s not the manual labor or long hours that linger in his memory, it’s the people.
Jimmy Jr. points at the wall adorned with framed, yellowing photos of old bakers.
“Those guys are incredible human beings,” he says. “They’re wild animals, but they’re great people.”
And while Columbus Bakery markets itself as a family business, they treat their non-relative employees as family, too. Abel Ramírez Gonzalez worked at the now-defunct Columbus Deli under Jimmy Sr. in 2013, shortly after Ramírez emigrated from Cuba. He was 16 years old and barely spoke English.
Facing customers daily, Ramírez picked up skills he wouldn’t have learned anywhere else, he said. It was the place he mastered speaking English with the support of the Retzos and the community of fellow Cuban workers.
Because of the language barrier, Jimmy Sr. remembers taking a chance with Ramírez, but said Ramírez’s positive attitude and work ethic helped him grow over the years. After all, Columbus Bakery has always been a multicultural hub, much like the city of Syracuse, Jimmy Sr. said.
“If they’re willing to work, I don’t care what nationality they are. I don’t care if I can understand them or not understand them,” Jimmy Sr. said. “Even when I was growing up there, we had Greeks, Macedonians, Russians, Bulgarians, Cubans.”
Ramírez still fondly recalls the tight-knit staff and community-oriented business model. Whether it was watching a young Aiden come into the deli to hangout — Aiden even coined his own sandwich called “Aiden’s Awesome” — or catching up with regulars, Columbus Bakery was a “special” place to work.
“I was just a sandwich maker, but they really took it seriously in our day-to-day interactions,” Ramírez said. “You do build that friendship over time.”
Photos of the past four generations of the Retzos family line a wall in Columbus Baking Co. The store was originally opened by Italian immigrants in 1895, and has been owned by the Retzos family since 1974. Tara Deluca | Photo Editor
It’s something you can’t get at a corporation like Wegmans or Walmart, where you’re seeing a different cashier every time, Ramírez said. In an increasingly transactional world, places like Columbus Bakery stand out, he said.
Both longtime and novel customers would agree. Joe Proud grew up in Camillus, and though he’d always heard of Columbus Bakery, he hadn’t tried it until two years ago. It’s exactly the kind of spot that makes him happy he moved back to Syracuse, he said.
“I’ll opt for a mom-and-pop shop like it every time over some chain or franchise, and I’ll pay more for that experience,” Proud said.
It’s a special experience for both customers and employees. Aiden is the youngest generation of the Retzos family, and he’s pursued a similar path as his father and grandfather, working as a baker for the past three years. Whenever the time comes to be the owner, he’ll be ready.
“Until then, just follow the tradition,” Aiden said. “Do what my father needs me to do and do the dirty work.”
While changes in ownership and technicalities like New York food codes can alter the way each Retzos runs Columbus Bakery, all three living generations underscored the same principle: If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
As many small, family-owned businesses in Syracuse are closing or changing ownership, Jimmy Jr. feels blessed he’s carried on his family’s tradition. It’s a testament to consistency despite labor intensive work.
“That’s what this type of business is all about,” Jimmy Jr. said. “We understand, so we take the challenge. That’s our life.”
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Even in retirement, Jimmy Sr. still comes in to help on holidays. They’re the busiest days of the year, and a customer gets to see three generations working side by side together — something that’s rare to find these days, Jimmy Sr. said.
When Chrissey thinks back on a lifetime with Columbus Bakery, she credits her grandparents for taking a chance in the United States and her father, George, for seeing his vision of family stability through. And for Syracuse locals and visiting customers, that mission has manifested through consistent, fresh bread, made fresh every morning.
“Columbus is the heart of Syracuse. If you want to get bread, you go to Columbus Bakery,” Lykudis said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Italian, Greek or whatever. It’s the staple.”
