Wonder Bread Bakery In Queens Set To Close

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- The landmark Wonder Bread bakery in Queens plans to take a slice out of the New York economy.

For more than a century, people in Jamaica have been treated to the smell of fresh-baked bread, but the Wonder Bread plant, which opened in the 1870s, as Shults Bread Company, is closing down in January. The plant employs 200 workers.

"We just know it's not a positive thing. What we're going to do? We don't know yet," bakery worker Teddy Rogers told CBS 2's John Slattery.

54-year-old Judy Jordan has worked at the bakery for 29 years.

"It's been a pleasure working here. It's a been a pleasure," Jordan said, "It's bad for anybody to lose their job at this time."

59-year-old Lamott Franklin has been with Wonder Bread for 33 years.

"It hurts me just to see the bakery going because there's no more left," Franklin said.

Hostess, the parent company of Wonder Bread, said it regrets the closing, but said modernizing the facility would be too difficult and too expensive.

Plant workers may be offered jobs elsewhere in the company, and the factory outlet store will remain open for a time.