Three generations later, for Riesterer's Bakery business is just as sweet

If you live in or around West Hempstead, you’ve probably heard of Riesterer’s Bakery.

Famous for generations for selling crispy treats on the Island, the bakery hosted a block party earlier this month with three neighboring businesses to celebrate its 80 anniversary. Karl Riesterer, 74, owns the family-run business, which remains the oldest bakery in New York state. He remembers the early years that followed the bakery’s foundation in 1931.

“My father was a baker and my mother was a sales associate and they built it up slowly over the years,” Riesterer said. “Both came from Germany and worked in the city, in hotels. During the Depression, they couldn’t make a living … and then they heard about a bakery on Long Island, so they came out here and were able to purchase the business. They started slowly. They had great quality, the economy got better and business got better.”

Riesterer, who was born in West Hempstead in 1937 and has remained there ever since, took over the business from his parents shortly after graduating from West Hempstead High School in 1955. As a business owner, he became involved in the hamlet in a variety of ways: Riesterer became a volunteer for the West Hempstead Fire Department and eventually served there as chief and then as commissioner for 15 years. Today he is the president of the West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce.

These days, Riesterer only spends two or three days a week at the West Hempstead bakery now, but he knows the business it in good hands — namely, those of his son, Karl Jr. One of Riesterer’s two daughters runs his other bakery of the same name in Garden City. The family once owned five shops, but Riesterer shut three down (in Hempstead, Hewlett and Rockville Centre) after his wife died more than two decades ago.

But just as he felt obligated to help his parents, Riesterer feels obligated to help his children and his many customers and, so, he continues to operate the two stores, which are faring pretty well despite tough economic times. “I took over for my mother and father, because I felt sorry for them because they were working so hard,” Riesterer said. “Now my children are running it…We have a third generation in there now.”