Long-tim eatery Breadings to become craft store

For decades, a trip to Breading's Cigar Store has been a rite of passage for Warsaw men and their sons.

Around a cup of coffee, a plate of grub and a game of dominoes, locals have shared stories, news and their lives at Breadings. To be in the know in Warsaw was to be a Breading's regular.

"We usually got the information before the newspaper did," said Craig Smith, owner, during a recent interview. "Eighty-percent of it was usually right."

But that rite will come to an end Saturday as Breading's closes its doors after 85 years. A chapter of Warsaw history is closing, but it's a chapter full of memories.

"There are a million (memories). There are so many," said Smith.

There was the time a live tiger from Kokomo walked into Breading's in the late 1970s, scaring customers out the back door. In the 1980s, a live armadillo from Texas came into Breading's one day and was soup the next.

T-shirts promoting the downtown business can be found all over the world, including China, Africa, Australia, Sweden, Great Britain, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico to name a few places.

"I've got them all over the world," said Smith. "I've still got orders from people."

In 1984, Breading's was highlighted on the NBC Evening News during a segment of cross-country features "Across U.S. 30." Breading's was one of just the two stops the show made in Indiana.

As Smith remembered the past Friday, he also was reminded that many of the regulars who were around in 1984 now are deceased. Over the past few years, he's seen so many of his regulars - his friends, his neighbors - buried or move away, he's ready to hang up the apron.

"It's changed over the years. It's sad to say, you see the people who affected your life come and go," said Smith.

The building is returning to the family of its original owners. Jim and Dixie Breading have bought the property and Dixie will move her craft store to the Center Street location.

"I'm just going to take a few months off, kick back," said Smith of his plans.

Smith said he's put in 13-hour days, seven days a week, at Breading's, working from 3 or 4 a.m. to about 2 p.m. and then returning in the evening to clean up.

The Breading family is taking the equipment from Breading's and putting it into inventory, equipment which dates back 20 to more than 40 years old.

"We still have the original fryer," said Smith. "It's 20 years old. It's been rebuilt a few times."

According to the book "A History of the City of Warsaw, Indiana" by Michelle J. Bormet, in the 1920s, Robert Breading Sr. and his son Lewis "Peanuts" Breading started Breading's Cigar Store in a two-story wood frame building at 114 E. Center St. In 1950, the business moved to its current place at 116 E. Center St.

The Breadings sold the business in 1954 to Ray Deafenbaugh and Howard "Sam" Holbrook, with Dick Heagy joining the business in 1955. Dick Kehoe was a short-term partner, with Burleigh Burgh buying Kehoe's interest in 1959.

In 1974, Deafenbaugh and Heagy decided to sell their interest in the business. Burgh bought Heagy's share and Craig Smith bought Deafenbaugh's part.

"I got a store, a business and turned 18 all at the same time," said Smith of buying into Breading's. "At that point, it was cheaper to buy the place than go to college."

In November 2002, Burgh, 70, died unexpectedly. He reportedly suffered a heart attack at his home and was pronounced dead on arrival at Kosciusko Community Hospital.

"Burleigh was the highlight of Breading's," said Smith. "When he passed away, it was a sad moment."

Smith knows not everyone is happy about his decision to sell.

"There's the diehards that feel this place was life," he said, but time moves forward, it does not freeze.