Fifty years after it first opened in 1976, Nabolom Bakery shut its doors to the public on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Established in the Elmwood district in Berkeley, CA, the business prided itself on its “one of a kind pizza, fresh baked goods, beer, wine, and drip coffee,” and was well known for its high-quality ingredients and staple cinnamon twists. Prior to its closure, the business shortened it’s hours and fought to maintain a steady clientele, but ultimately struggled to maintain operations due to economic stress.
Throughout its 50 years of operation, the bakery survived many hurdles, including financial turmoil and changes in management. “We were always behind on our payments and our bills to our different vendors,” Debra Hill, a former baker and collective member at Nabolom from 1997 to 1999 who now works as the head Growing Leaders program teacher at Willard, said. When it first opened, Nabolom was run as a cooperative, or co-op, meaning that it was collectively owned by all employees, allowing workers to determine the way the establishment functioned. Throughout the decade prior to its closure, Nabolom was run under a more traditional business structure by owners Julia Elliot and Sabra Stepak.
In 2026, many factors caught up with the business, eventually leading to its closure. Rising costs on ingredients, high staff turnover, an extremely competitive market, and various social media mishaps all contributed. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the bakery was removed from Instagram after reposting an image of a BART car tagged with an anti-ICE message. The San Francisco Chronicle stated that this event dropped sales 20 percent, further extending the financial struggles the business was enduring.
According to The Atlantic, the cost of ingredients rose 30 percent post-pandemic, a factor that affected Nabolom Bakery particularly harshly. With rising prices on these commodities, continuing to use premium ingredients became a challenge. According to SFGATE, Nabolom specifically struggled with the cost of chocolate and other unique ingredients needed to produce an array of pizzas and pastries.
In addition to an additional financial struggle that the pandemic produced, former employee Joshua Lin noted that the atmosphere in the bakery changed post-pandemic. “Everyone was still really nice; it was just a lot more stressful because they were worrying about the business closing,” Lin said, “(Elliot) didn’t have the same workforce and work efficiency as she used to have.” Marketplace reported that this pattern has been seen to be repeated in small businesses across the country, with inflation leading to waves of closures.
For many of those who live in the surrounding area, the closure of Nabolom marked a huge loss. “It was just the end of an era, and it represented a lot of childhood for me,” Chloe Gill, a Berkeley High School senior, said. Gill and her family frequented the business throughout her years in elementary school, and she had hoped to work at the bakery as a kid.
Throughout the last decade, Elliot and Stepak created a tight-knit community, with efforts to make connections to their clientele. Gill expressed how she will miss the 50-year-old Berkeley staple for its food, community, and positive atmosphere.