April 2, 2001
Mr. Brian H. Marston
3875A Connecticut Street
St. Louis, MO 63116-4838
Dear Mr. Marston:
I am in receipt of your letter dated March 26th. Rather than respond to your letter directly, I thought it would be more helpful if I stated Saint Louis Bread Co.’s commitment to our customers and the South Grand community in an open letter. Enclosed is a copy of that letter which will be posted in our bakery-cafe.
I do want to say to you, however, that contrary to your letter, Saint Louis Bread Co. has had no thoughts of tearing down historic homes. We have been thinking only of reinvesting in our bakery-cafe to better serve our customers and to maintain the bakery-cafes’ economic viability.
I also know and respect the fact that the South Grand community has a choice to make. Our landlord’s proposal to remove two houses to provide the kind of convenient, adjacent parking that would help encourage and support commercial activity on South Grand and that is necessary for our expansion, may not be what some neighborhood residents think is in the neighborhood’s long term best interest. While Saint Louis Bread Co. believes that investing in the bakery-cafe would provide better service and a more comfortable, attractive environment and would in fact, be an important statement about the strength of the surrounding business and residential community, we respect the right of residents of the South Grand area and your public representatives to decide this issue through an open, public process.
As indicated in the enclosed open letter to the community, once the public approval process is complete, we will be respectful of that decision and continue to support the neighborhood through our bakery-cafe in the best way we can.
Sincerely,
Archie Karel
St. Louis Director of Operations
Saint Louis Bread Co.
314-633-6354