(Photo: Huddle Today)

It’s the end of an era for people looking for affordable bread outside of a grocery store in Moncton.

Ben’s Bakery announced the closure of its Mountain Road Outlet earlier this month. In a note posted to the door of the now-closed Ben’s Bakery Outlet at 1125 Mountain Road, a note attributed to management said the location is permanently closed.

“We would like to thank you for your patronage over the past years,’ said the note.

The bakery chain, long used as an affordable alternative to bread bought from grocery stores, is in the midst of closing several of its Atlantic Canadian stores.

Ben’s Bakery is owned by Bimbo Canada, one of Canada’s oldest commercial bakeries and a subsidiary of Mexico-based Grupo Bimbo.

Bimbo Canada chose its Moncton plant on Botsford Street as the first location in Canada to roll out its line of eco-friendly plastic bag tags – a replacement for the traditional plastic bread tags it used before.

Ben’s Bakery was launched in 1907 by Ben Moir, whose namesake gives the chain its name.

The chain was purchased by Etobicoke-based Canada Bread in 2002. Canada Bread is wholly owned by Bimbo, after its purchase in 2014.

In addition to Ben’s, Bimbo owns numerous other brands, including Dempster’s, Stonemill, Villaggio, Vachon, and Takis. Bimbo operates 16 bakeries, 15 sales centers, and 191 depots across Canada.

Sam Macdonald is a Reporter for Huddle Today, a content-sharing partner of Acadia Broadcasting.