The Local Current is a biweekly column, uncovering the stories behind local eateries and small businesses in Downtown Bloomsburg. Bri Raymond shares the voices, traditions, and flavors of our town in print and with audio components online.
The first thing that I could smell was the sweet scent of sugar and freshly baked bread. It was a warm, sunny afternoon in downtown Bloomsburg when I first walked through the blue door into Little Bakery. The bell above the door chimed softly as I entered, and for a moment, the world outside seemed to disappear.
The shop was empty except for Nataliia Bundziak, owner of little bakery, a quiet sanctuary of warmth and craft. There was a quiet artistry to the way she worked, every roll and twist deliberate, almost meditative. Those early experiences in the kitchen would shape her life and eventually lead her halfway across the world.
“I grew up in Ukraine,” she says. “My mom baked every weekend — for holidays, for family. We made bread once a week, six or eight loaves, all by hand. I was probably seven or eight when I started helping her.” Bundziak paused and laughed, “I don’t know if I really helped… but I was there.”
That early love for baking became a lifelong calling. After years living in Prague, Bundziak moved to the U.S. and opened Little Bakery, a cozy Czech and Ukrainian-inspired pastry shop tucked in an alley on Center Street.
When she arrived, Bloomsburg didn’t have a bakery. “I realized, okay, this town is missing a bakery,” she says. “So I decided to open one, and bring something people here had never tried before.”
Her specialty is a golden spiral pastry rolled in sugar, crisp on the outside and soft within, the chimney cake. Each chimney cake is homemade, sometimes filled with cream or fruit, sometimes left plain and warm, which pairs perfectly with their coffee. They’re a Central European street food staple, found in Christmas markets across Prague and Budapest. In Pennsylvania, they’re nearly impossible to find, except here.
“The nearest place that makes them is in Pittsburgh,” she explains. “So I am the only one here who does them fresh,” stated Bundziak
The menu tells Bundziak’s story with European-style cookies shaped in molds brought from overseas, delicate fruit flans, and the honey cake she layers thin by hand, just as her mother did.
Her most popular items? Cannolis, honey cake, and cookies. But the chimney cakes are the showstopper, filled with everything from cannoli cream to Nutella, often crowned with fruit or whipped cream.
“When I bake bread, I always say thank you to my mom,” she says. “Because of her, I learned how to make something with my hands — and share it with others.”
Her days start early, sometimes at five in the morning and other times at seven, and last long after closing. “It’s a lot of manual work,” she admits. “I always say I want to own my business, not for my business to own me. But right now, it owns me a little.” Despite the long hours, Burndziak wouldn’t trade her work for anything, especially when she sees how the bakery has brought her into the heart of the community
When Little Bakery first opened, she didn’t know how Bloomsburg would respond. Three years later, she’s built something far greater than a customer base; she’s built a family.
“When I first came here, I didn’t know anyone,” she says. “But with the bakery, people became part of my daily life. My customers are like friends now. Some of my first student customers graduated and still come back to visit. That’s very special.”
Students stop in after class for a slice of cake in need of sweets after a stressful day or a quick pick-me-up espresso. Locals bring their families on weekends. Parents return with visiting alumni, eager to show them what’s changed and what hasn’t.
Before I leave, she insists I try one. A warm strawberry-filled chimney cake, golden, buttery, rolled in cinnamon sugar with Nutella in the middle. It tastes like comfort. Like something that reminds you of home, even if it’s not your own.
“I’m grateful for our community,” she says. “Without them, I couldn’t celebrate three years. And I hope for many more.”
Walking out of Little Bakery with a warm chimney cake in hand, it’s easy to see why this little shop has become so much more than a bakery. In every bite, there’s tradition, love, and a reminder that home can be found in the people and places that care for you, and here, Bundziak has built both.
