“The oven is heated by two gas blowers on each side and the right blower is where the fire happened,” Smales said. “Luckily, ovens are designed to deal with heat and flames. The only real damage was to the blower — it burned the motor, all the electrical and all the stuff that goes into the blower.”

She said it took time to figure out what needed to be replaced and where to get the parts. The oven is from 1961 and since then safety regulations have changed — meaning if they changed parts they had to make sure it was up to current standards.

After they got the blower up and running, the transmission that turns the oven came unattached.

“It’s been a series of unfortunate events,” Smales said. “We’ve been making pretzels the last few days. Everything is going well. We feel comfortable opening Saturday. We should be fully stocked with hard pretzels.”

To say thank you to their customers for being supportive through the closure, soft pretzels will be $1 all day Saturday instead of $1.50.

“I knew it was really important to get up and running as soon as we could,” Smales said. “Everyone’s just been so supportive and so sweet through all of this. I see the bakery as... it’s for Dayton. We’re really happy to be opening and being able to serve everyone again.”

During the closure, the bakery sold t-shirts to help pay staff and keep the lights on while they couldn’t make pretzels. Smales said they were able to pay their employees for the last two weeks using the proceeds.

MORE DETAILS

Smales, located at 210 Xenia Ave., has a long history in the Gem City.

The bakery began with German-born Rudie Schaaf opening Gem City Pretzel on Warren Street in 1906, not long after he arrived in Dayton. The shop’s current location dates back to 1926, when his daughter, Emma, moved it there and renamed it.

Today, Emma Smales is the fifth generation in her family to own the bakery famous for its hand-twisted soft pretzels and hard pretzels.

Smales is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit smalespretzels.com or the bakery’s Facebook and Instagram pages (@smalespretzelbakery).