The Duchess Bakery is closing its doors at the end of the month after more than 80 years in business.

Another local eatery, the Red Door Cafe, is shutting its doors too.

Duchess owner Larry Bontrager said the bakery first opened in its location on 1st Avenue SE in 1939, and he has owned the popular donut and sweets shop for the past 43 years, but it is time for him to move on. 

“It’s got a lot of sentimental value to me, but sometimes you just have to let go,” he said. 

Since word got out about the shop’s closing on Thursday, donuts sold out quickly and Bontrager said workers have been dealing with a flood of customers. 

“We’ve been bombarded with phone calls,” he said. 

Bontrager made sure to express his gratitude to all of those customers and everyone else who has been to the shop over the past four decades. 

“I want to thank all of our patrons for all these years,” he said. “Cullman has been very, very good to us.”

The Red Door Cafe, located on the corner of 4th Street SW and 4th Avenue SW, will not be reopening after the recent restaurant closures due to COVID-19. 

In a Facebook post, Red Door owner Bill McCartney said the closure was already planned later in the year, but his timeline was accelerated with the statewide closing of restaurants.

“Closing The Red Door Cafe was planned to happen around my next birthday in August,” he said. “With the forced closure in March and now reopening with severe limitations, it simply made sense to go ahead, turn the page and begin a new chapter.”

While the cafe’s doors are closing, McCartney said he doesn’t plan on going anywhere. 

He said he plans to continue play golf, organize trips to Italy and he has begun to explore developing a new golf tournament to raise awareness and money for Grace Place, which is a resource for those with memory loss and their caregivers, and he also thanked all of the customers that have been to the cafe over its six years of business. 

“I look forward to seeing each of you in a new context,” he said.