Crumbs Bake Shop, the other cupcake shop in New York – CLOSED

The Crumbs Bake Shop closed its doors on the 8th of July 2014, without any advice to their customers nor workers. The chain’s 48 nationwide stores were all shuttered thanks to continually falling sales and poor stock performance (more info click here). But after finding an investor the cupcakes are back to the delight of all!

Whether you’re fond of sweets or not, I recommend you to taste a cupcake on your next trip to New York.

Everyone knows Magnolia Bakery store, especially famous because of Carrie Bradshaw and her girlfriends from the show « Sex & The City », but its fellow the Crumbs Bake Shop doesn’t have to blush because of its cupcakes.

What’s the history behind Crumbs?

The first Crumbs Bake Shop opened its doors in March 2003 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The shop was created by Mia and Jason Bauer and right away, Crumbs’ goal was to make a classic, pretty and delicious product, just like a home-made pastry, the Cupcake.

Thus, everyday, more than 50 kinds of cupcakes come out of the oven, and every Monday, a new cupcake is designed called the cupcake of the week. The originality of Crumbs is to create cupcakes varieties under the name of American stars such as Artie Lange, Gary Dell’Abate and Elvis Presley.

Today, Crumbs Bakery Shop is the biggest cupcakes store chain in United States with 63 stores in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Virginia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Los Angeles and more.

What’s the vibe at Crumbs Bake Shop?

Crumbs bakeries are all created the same way.

There’s a counter where you order and more importantly, a huge window where all the cupcakes are displayed. This way, it’s easier to see the cupcakes available but harder to pick because greater is the choice.

The only solution I have is to come back again and again 🙂

What can we eat at Crumbs?

Just like I mentioned earlier, you have more than 50 different kinds of cupcakes everyday.

All cupcakes are divided in 4 sizes: Taste, Classic, Signature and Colossal.

I’ll notice that the sizes starting at Classic are really big, thus not easy to finish 🙂

The most famous taste at Crumbs are: Blackout, Candy, Cookies and Cream, Cookie Dough, Devil’s food, Mint Chocolate Chips, Raspberry Swirl, Red Velvet, Squiggle, Coconut Vanilla, Vanilla Sprinkle, Peanut Butter Cup, Brownie, S’mores, Vanilla/Chocolate with Sprinkles, White Hot Chocolate and Fudge Chocolate Chip.

Then just like I was saying, they seem to like giving famous names to their cupcakes.

Since, I happen to visit Crumbs during the previous US presidential elections, they’ve created cupcakes called « The USA » and « The Independent ».

But also some funny cupcakes names such as « Donkey » or « Elephant » which represent the Democratic party with Barack Obama as the champion and the Republican party with his challenger Mitt Romney.

Crumbs Bake Shop also proposes other kinds of pastries including: Muffins, almonds croissants, cinnamon buns, donuts, cookies and more.

Are Crumbs cupcakes better then Magnolia’s?

There is no easy answer to that question (see article on Magnolia Bakery).

My friend Celine, will tell you that she prefers Magnolia’s cupcakes because the cream and the biscuit are much lighter.

As for myself, given that I have a sweet tooth, I couldn’t make up my mind between the 2, I personally think that both are equivalent although Crumbs cupcakes tend to be a little heavier.

Whatever it is, there’s not an entire world between these 2 bakeries. They just have different customers: Magnolia Bakery is more girly, classic and less fantasist on the other hand Crumbs Bake Shop is more fun and creative.

Anyway, both are still a really good tip and it’s a must if you’re curious about American culture on your next trip to New York. 😉

As for us, we’ve ordered the Red Velvet cupcake and enjoyed it on a small table in Bryant Park.

And here’s a type of box used to take our cupcakes to go 😉

Where can we find a Crumbs Bakery in New York?

In New York, we can simply find 10 Crumbs:

1. BROAD STREET : 40 Broad Street, New York City, NY
2. COLUMBUS AVENUE : 775 Columbus Avenue, New York City, NY
3. GARMENT CENTER : 1385 Broadway (37/38th), New York City, NY
4. GRAND CENTRAL : 420 Lexington Avenue (43/44th), New York City, NY
5. PARK AVENUE  : 2 Park Avenue (32/33rd), New York City, NY
6. TIMES SQUARE : 261 West 42nd Street, New York City, NY
7. BRYANT PARK : 43 West 42nd St (5/6th Ave), New York City, NY
8. LEXINGTON AVE : 1418 Lexington Ave (93rd), New York City, NY
9. THIRD AVE : 880 Third Ave (53rd), New York City, NY
10. UNION SQUARE : 124 University Place (W.13th), New York City, NY

Here’s a map of Crumbs’ locations in New York:

View Crumbs Bake Shop in a larger map

Official Website: http://www.crumbs.com/

More Pictures: