Magee’s Bakery is reopening in Lexington. Here’s when, and what will be different
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Magee's Bakery will likely open in October.
- The hours and daily menu offerings will be scaled back. Doughnuts likely on weekends.
- The reopened bakery will focus on fresh production, visible kitchen and a lunch menu.
After being closed for a little more than three years, one of Lexington’s most popular bakeries is coming back.
Owner Greg Higgins said he will reopen Magee’s Bakery in the fall.
The Lexington bakery staple closed in May 2023 after 67 years at 726 E. Main St. At the time, Higgins and his co-owner sister, Beverly, said fatigue, staffing shortages and rising costs led to Magee’s closing.
But Greg has bought out his sister and has a new business plan that includes scaling back the hours and menu, highlighting certain products on certain days.
“I’m not going to be going in there every morning at 3, 4 o’clock in the morning,” said Higgins. “It’s going to be a different production process and sort of philosophy.”
How will Magee’s Bakery be different when it reopens?
Higgins said he is not going to have what was Magee’s full bakery menu of doughnuts. cakes, pies, cookies and more every day.
“Select things at certain periods instead of everything all the time,” said Higgins, adding that items will no longer be sitting on shelves waiting to be bought.
“The cool part is that the things that will be offered are going to be exceptionally fresh, because they’re going to be done the day that they’re sold, no matter what it is,” said Higgins.
This includes some of Magee’s popular baked goods like iced cookies, cream horns and mallow bars. But there will be a change with doughnuts.
“More than likely, I won’t be doing donuts every day,” said Higgins. “I’ll more than likely just be doing donuts on the weekends, because that’s when the greatest demand was. We would sell out of donuts on a Saturday and a Sunday, sometimes on a Friday, but through the weekdays, donuts didn’t move as quickly. So why offer them when they’re not going to move, when the demand is not there?”
Will Magee’s Bakery have a lunch menu?
Higgins said he will figure out the daily bakery menu, including special order cakes and pies as he goes. But he said a daily staple will be lunch offerings.
The lunch menu will include salads and sandwiches, some made with Magee’s popular croissants. But there will also be new items like hoagies.
“I’ve been working on that for a year, and I’ve got that lined out because that’s going to be a staple thing,” Higgins said. “I’ve got a brand-new bread product that I’m going to be putting sandwiches on that I’m geeking out about.”
When will Magee’s reopen?
Higgins said Magee’s will likely open in October. He expects to open around 10-11 a.m., “to hit lunch, and then the afternoon crowd with baked goods that they can pick up and take home.”
But he would open earlier on the weekends for donuts.
Higgins said he will do some minor renovations, mostly in the back with production including some newer equipment.
“One of the things you’re going to notice when you come in is that you are going to be looking directly in the kitchen,” Higgins said. There will be no divider between the front of the house and the back of the house. That’s something that I’m very happy about, because I want that synergy between production and customer.”
Magee’s bakery history
The building that housed the Main Street bakery was for sale after it closed three years ago. Higgins said there was some interest, but deals didn’t work out. So he decided to take another look at reopening, working closely on a business plan with Fausto Sarmiento at the University of Kentucky’s Small Business Development Center.
“He’s been a godsend,” said Higgins. “If it can work for this bakery that’s been around for so long and have the effect that it’s had, imagine what it can do for people that don’t realize that they’re there.”
Beverly and Greg Higgins inherited the business from their parents, Joyce and Ralph Higgins, who opened it in 1956 as a spinoff from the Magee’s bakery in Maysville. Ralph Higgins had been a bookkeeper for the owner of the Maysville location, and he and Joyce Higgins initially operated the Lexington branch of the business for him.
The couple, along with a partner, bought the Lexington bakery from Magee in the late 1960s, and then the Higginses bought out the partner in 1972. Their children, Beverly and Greg, ran the local bakery until it closed in 2023.
“I want to maintain the location,” said Higgins. “I think it’s historic, it’s just a big part of Lexington, us being there as a bakery, and we’re on the 70th anniversary in 2026.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 11:49 AM.
