The Goldfinch Creamery Cafe and Bakery is set to close Friday at 316 and 318 Water St. in downtown Gardiner, according to owners Hope and Joey Olivencia. Ethan Horton/Kennebec Journal

GARDINER — The owners of the Goldfinch Creamery have announced that Friday will be the cafe and bakery’s final day in downtown Gardiner.

The family-owned and run business opened at 316 and 318 Water St. in October 2021 and quickly became a popular destination for ice cream, pastries and tea.

But caring for her family and running the Goldfinch Creamery has become too much for Hope Olivencia, who owns the business with her husband, Joey. She said the closure has her heartbroken.

“It has nothing to do with the business itself. We are struggling with some family health issues,” Hope Olivencia said. “It’s just a conflict of everything at once. I can’t get up at that hour (4:30 a.m.) and be there every day, while focusing on my family and their health.”

The couple announced Monday in a Facebook post that the Goldfinch Creamery is set to close at the end of the week. Reaction from the community has included disappointment and sadness.

With a background in restaurant work, Hope Olivencia said she learned to cook — making soups and pastries — for her nine-person family as a way to save money. The family — Hope and Joey Olivencia, their daughter and her family, their son and Hope Olivencia’s mother — has called Gardiner home for 15 years and lives together.

With her husband and son, Hope Olivencia runs the Goldfinch Creamery on a daily basis, rising at 4:30 every morning to make the pastries.

“We started as an ice cream place because my family wanted a place to get ice cream in the winter and thought we would add hot chocolate,” she said. “The baking at first was just side items, but the customers led me to make more, and soon we had to get more pastry cases.”

The family wanted the the Goldfinch Creamery to feel warm and open, like customers were at their grandmother’s home, and it became a safe place for the LGBTQ community, Olivencia said.

The cafe and bakery served many regulars, and typically had a line out the door during downtown events.

“We will miss the customers and being a part of the community,” Hope Olivencia said. “People walk by and wave and say, ‘Good morning.’ We have built a wonderful community.”

Olivencia also served on the Gardiner Main Street board of directors, which is part of a nonprofit that aims to improve Main Streets across the state.

Tamera Whitmore, the director of Gardiner Main Street, called the Goldfinch Creamery’s closure a significant loss for the city.

Whitmore said she feels a sadness when a business leaves Gardiner’s Water Street, which is home to other shops and restaurants.

“It’s a shame,” Whitmore said. “It’s become an institution quickly for our downtown, and I can’t say enough about how entrepreneurial and how much energy Hope has had in how she creates different types of experiences for people. It’s truly a loss of Gardiner’s downtown.”