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Legendary N.J. bakery up for sale after 85 years in business

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Legendary N.J. bakery up for sale after 85 years in business

The home of New Jersey’s best cream doughnuts is up for sale.

McMillan’s Bakery, in the Westmont section of Haddon Township, is listed on Loopnet for $1.3 million. The two-story building, at 15 Haddon Ave., also includes two upstairs apartments. It is unclear why the building is now up for sale, or if the bakery will remain open after the sale. Efforts to reach the owners were unsuccessful Monday. The shop is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

McMillan’s, which opened in 1939, is one of the state’s great neighborhood bakeries: humble and homey, yet packed with outstanding baked goods.

READ MORE: New Jersey’s 62 greatest bakeries

At the top of the list are their unsurpassed cream doughnuts, powdered-sugar-topped creations bulging with cream filling. Whatever you do, don’t eat that doughnut in your car; your seats will be covered in powdered sugar, as mine was in a recent visit.

The parents of long-time owner Arlene Biemiller opened the bakery in 1939. Biemiller, who died in 2023, was a gracious host (and avid bird watcher) when we stopped at the bakery in 2017 during our N.J.’s best bakery showdown.

Arlene Biemiller, second from right, and staff at McMillan’s Bakery. Biemiller passed away last year.PG

She loved telling the story of the time she drove down to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina by herself and dropped off 250 cream doughnuts when her grandson, then a Marine stationed at the base, asked if she could bring a few down during a visit.

So how much cream is in each cream doughnut? “As much as it takes,” she replied, smiling.

But McMillan’s was always more than just cream doughnuts. Cakes, cookies, pies, muffins, danish, cinnamon buns and more filled the display shelves.

McMillan’s, not surprisingly, made our lists of the state’s 62 greatest bakeries and N.J.’s 37 best doughnut shops.

Reaction from local residents and business owners was swift and saddened.

“They’ve been there forever,” said Vincenzo Barone, owner of Bricco Coal Fired Pizza in Westmont, one of ten finalists in our N.J.s best pizzeria showdown . “I had a cider doughnut there, I think it was just out of the fryer. It was the best thing I’ve ever had.”

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Peter Genovese may be reached at pgenovese@njadvancemedia.com. On Twitter, @petegenovese. On Instagram, @peteknowsjersey and @themunchmobile.

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