What’s behind Gabi bakery’s recent spate of openings and closings?
The doughnut doings have become dizzying at Gabi Coffee & Bakery, with a recent announcement providing the icing on 18 months of openings, closings and reopenings in the Gabi family.
In November on Instagram, the Korean bakery posted that it was debuting a new location Nov. 12 at 136 N. Stephanie St., Suite 130, in Henderson. But puzzlingly, this location is the same space that once housed Gabi Boutique Donut & Pastry, a doughnut spinoff of the original Gabi Coffee on Spring Mountain Road in Chinatown.
Gabi Boutique on Stephanie Street launched in June 2023. A sibling Gabi Boutique opened in late 2023 on Via Inspirada in Henderson. Both showcased elegant doughnuts and other mochi confections.
Upgrades, closings
On July 1, Gabi Boutique posted on Instagram that the Henderson bakeries were to be shuttered through September for menu and service upgrades. “After about two months, we will return with more delicious and diverse menu items and enjoyable service,” the bakery wrote.
Gabi Boutiques reopened in early September — without mochi doughnuts taking a star turn. That role went instead to Korean kkwabaegi twist doughnuts troweled with sweet and savory creams and studded, say, with blueberries or sliced tomatoes or potatoes and bacon.
Then in an Instagram post Oct. 2, Gabi Boutique announced that its two Henderson bakeries were permanently closing that day — less than a month after they had reopened. The post called the closings a “tough decision.”
Not ideal for the brand
Which returns us to the November post about Gabi Coffee debuting in the Stephanie Street premises once occupied by its Gabi Boutique expansion. (The Gabi Boutique on Via Inspirada is still closed.)
Why would the Gabi owners reopen and then close two bakeries within the space of one month — only to relaunch one of the bakeries about a month later under another name from the portfolio?
Is this simply a branding change? A lease issue? A needed shift in menu direction? Something else?
The menu at the new Henderson Gabi Coffee closely tracks the Chinatown menu, with fanciful coffee drinks, hot and iced teas, fat cakes slices in various flavors, equally stacked crêpe cakes layering dozens of thin strata, double-height macarons sandwiching swirls of filling like mango passion or crème brûlée, plus soups, salads, sandwiches and bagel sandwiches.
But no doughnuts.
Gabi Coffee and owner-operator Gorae Management have not returned Las Vegas Review-Journal requests for comment. The original Gabi Coffee, which debuted in 2018 behind a wooden door unmarked except for an “Open” sign, remains in business at 5808 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 104.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.
