Robbery "life today" to bakery's owner

The Borracchini family bakery outlasted Prohibition, the Depression, a world war and more earthquakes than they'd care to recount.

So the fear inflicted by armed robbers who stormed the Rainier Valley business early Tuesday is just a bump in the road for the landmark bakery that has weathered numerous changes and challenges, said longtime owner Remo Borracchini.

After all, what's a robbery when you've been responsible for thousands of wedding cakes?

Shortly before 5:30 a.m., two men burst through the employee entrance at Remo Borracchini's Bakery & Mediterranean Market and forced several employees to the floor. Two employees were bound with duct tape and one woman was pistol whipped.

The manager escaped and called 911. She said the robbers fled after taking an employee's wallet.

Police were still searching for the men Tuesday night.

When Borracchini, 76, learned about the robbery, he hurried down to the bakery. With the exception of an attempted burglary about 20 years ago, Tuesday's robbery was the first notable crime at the bakery since it opened in 1922, Borracchini said.

While the woman who was beaten with the gun was taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries, Borracchini said he and five staff members got back to work baking bread, frying doughnuts and frosting cakes after police left.

Like Borracchini, manager Traci LeCount, 31, shrugs off the idea that the robbery was anything very serious. LeCount, who called 911 after a gun was pointed at her stomach, wrinkles her nose at the notion she could be considered a hero.

"You have to call the police," LeCount said. "I was scared, but all I was thinking about was calling 911."

LeCount and five co-workers were inside the store when the two men walked in through the unlocked door. LeCount said that when she saw one of the gunmen, she told him to get out. She then grabbed the phone and dialed 911. The man grabbed the phone and hung up on the dispatcher. When the 911 dispatcher called back, the robber told them everything was fine and hung up, Borracchini said.

Determined to call for help, LeCount ran from the store to a neighbor's house. The men were gone by the time police arrived.

Police said the two suspects were dressed in black hooded sweatshirts and at least one had a gun. Additional details were not released.

After the robbery, concerned customers streamed into Borracchini's and called to make sure the employees were OK.

Delores Austin, who has visited the bakery daily for the past 60 years, said the police didn't deter her from getting her coffee. Though the robbery forced the bakery to delay its opening until noon, the South Seattle woman returned around 1:45 p.m. She got her coffee and checked on Borracchini and other friends.

"I was shocked," Austin said about the robbery. "These are just hard-working people."

Borracchini's parents opened the bakery in what was then the heart of Seattle's Italian neighborhood after emigrating from Florence, Italy. Using bread recipes passed down through generations of his mother's family, the bakery quickly grew popular among truck drivers in the South Park neighborhood, Borracchini said.

Over the years, the bakery that has 50 different types of bread added espresso, gelato, specialty Italian groceries, wedding cakes and a number of other baked goods. Borracchini believes the business has thrived so long because of his family's refusal to accumulate debt.

"Italians don't believe in debt," Borracchini laughed as he sat inside his bakery Tuesday. "We've never had a debt on this building in 85 years."

Though he has children and grandchildren working at the business, Borracchini said he refuses to retire. Following his grandfather — who retired from the bakery at the age of 98 — Borracchini said he will start working part time when he is 98.

He said Tuesday's robbery wouldn't change his plans.

"That's life today. This happens in the city," Borracchini said. "Nobody is shook up. I'll be here tomorrow."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com