Leslie Fraser, right, and her daughter Hayley are among the last family members to serve up the goodies at the bakery now owned by Leslie’s dad, Ernie Collier Jr.

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The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

PROVIDENCE –– Five years ago, Roxann Johnson-Nance and Robert Nance celebrated their nuptials over a cake from Colliers Bakery, a landmark business that’s been in the Washington Park section of Providence for 61 years.

With their Aug. 30 anniversary fast approaching –– and the bakery closing on June 14 –— the Providence couple have found themselves in the awkward and unusual spot of whether to celebrate their anniversary 2½ months early just to get another cake from Colliers.

“I think we might just [celebrate it early] so we can get another cake,” Roxann Johnson-Nance said yesterday as she picked up a Barbie-decorated birthday cake for her neighbor’s daughter, Ayanna, who is turning 4.

Like Johnson-Nance, many of the regulars –– and others who hadn’t visited the family-owned bakery for a while –– were on hand yesterday for another chance to stock up on their favorites: chocolate frosting, chocolate cookies and pumpkin muffins.

Eileen Gainor, of Warwick, stockpiled cupcakes for her adult children –– and planned to freeze some of the pastries for her son who lives in Florida.

Albert “Bud” and Marion Saart took the opportunity to buy two Mother’s Day cakes –– one for their niece and another for one of Marion’s sisters.

And Richard Cook and his wife, Catherine, who as a little girl had visited Colliers regularly with her father, called in their cake orders: a birthday cake for their granddaughter, Mariah, who turned 3 yesterday, and a Mother’s Day cake for Richard’s 92-year-old mother.

“Every customer who’s ever been here has been here for the past two days,” said Leslie Fraser, daughter of the current owner and a fourth-generation Collier at the bakery, as she put the finishing touches on a Mickey Mouse-decorated cake.

Her 15-year-old daughter, Haley, handled the telephone, which has been ringing almost nonstop for the past few days.

When are you closing? One caller wanted to know.

“Father’s Day weekend. So, it should be busy,” Haley said.

A pawnshop will replace the neighborhood bakery.

COLLIERS HOME BAKERY, as it was then called, first opened its doors at 232 Warren Ave. in Fall River.

When is anyone’s guess.

Based on an old family photo, Leslie Fraser said, they estimate it was sometime around 1904.

When the textile mills that once fueled Fall River’s economy closed, Colliers, too, closed its doors.

Ernie Collier Sr. –– father of the current owner, Ernie Collier Jr. –– took a job at a wholesale bakery on Providence’s Broad Street, near Public Street.

He went on to open Wayland Bakery in Wayland Square with a partner, and in 1947 opened Colliers Bakery at 1461 Broad St., its home for the past 61 years — minus a brief span in the 1960s, when the bakery moved across the street after a fire.

Over the years, the Colliers opened two more bakeries in Providence and another in Cranston. All three have since closed, as have many of the old stores that once lined the busy commercial street near Roger Williams Park –– Carter’s Candy Store, Weybosset Food Market, the Liberty and Palace theaters … .

Now, it’s Colliers’ turn. The reason: another economic downturn, said Haley Fraser –– plus her grandfather wants to retire.

“Everything is so expensive that we can’t afford the materials,” said Haley Fraser, noting that flour has gone from about $9 a bag to $25.

REGULARS who had built a routine around their trips to Colliers said they are at a loss as to where to go.

“I don’t like the chain coffees,” said Ken Stannard of KJ Stannard Upholstery, who makes a minimum of two daily “coffee and …” stops at Colliers.

Colliers’ coffee is brewed at Mills Coffee Roasting Co., less than a mile up the street.

“What can I do when they close? I can only pawn so much jewelry,” he said in jest.

But some of the neighbors –– who have started a signature drive to try to stop the pawnshop from opening its doors –– aren’t laughing much about the property’s new chapter.

“I don’t like the idea of it,” said Barbara Walmsley. “I think it’s an invitation to rob the place.”

As for Colliers’ closing, Walmsley said, “I like it even worse,” noting that she used to get her morning coffee at 4:30 a.m.

“It’ll be a change for the customers as well as … for me,” acknowledged current owner Ernie Collier.

As for himself, he said, he’ll be looking for a bakery as well.

“I never ate store bread. Wow, I’ll probably have to go to a real bakery that [bakes] bread every day.”

marmenta@projo.com