Community Facilitator (CF), Nicole Jones, liked the convenience of having Dozen Bake Shop downtown.Downtown Dozen customer, Lynae Pindell, is upset that the location has decided to close.As the owner of Dozen, James Gray said Point Park University students can still enjoy their cupcakes and other treats at the Lawrenceville and Oakland locations.After a year and a half of being open to the downtown Pittsburgh community, Dozen Bake Shop closed its doors on Feb. 25, 2011. The decision was made after looking at how business was going at that location.”We ultimately felt that so much of the business that we were getting from Downtown was actually coming from our Lawrenceville location,” said Gray in a phone interview on Tuesday, March 22. “Much of the business was telephone orders as opposed to actual foot traffic in store business.”Another reason why Downtown Dozen closed its doors was because it was not meeting the “target sales goals” the owner had in mind.”We had actually been sort of negotiating [closing the store] for some time, probably at least four or five months,” Gray said. “We had looked at the possibility of that and had been talking to the landlords making sure that they understood what our challenges were Downtown.”Known for its unique flavored cupcakes that are made from scratch every day, according to the bakery’s website, Dozen has been given the title of “Pittsburgh’s Best Bakery” by both City Paper and Pittsburgh Magazine. Although the Downtown location was successful when it first opened its doors, as Gray explains, the excitement of the new location opening died down “very quickly.” “In another sense we were sort of … going against our own market,” Gray said.Although Gray was worried that “a number of customers” would be upset with the closing of the Downtown location, the reactions he received were supportive.”What we found was that so many of our customers really understood the challenges of running a small business, and they were happy to actually see that we were making responsible business decisions that ultimately would be better for business overall and not just for the Downtown community,” Gray revealed.With the closing of the Downtown location of Dozen, Jones, a sophomore dance major with a concentration in ballet, said her job as a CF has been made “a little more difficult.””If I have a program or a floor meeting I go and pick up cupcakes for residents,” said Jones while standing outside the Point Cafe. “Now, I have to call and order them. Sometimes it’s hard to plan these things in advance.”Even though she is upset that the Dozen location closest to her closed, Pindell said that she will still order cupcakes in or head to the Oakland location.”I am sad it closed. I was looking forward to eating more of their cupcakes,” Freshman acting major Pindell said while sitting in the Point Cafe.Gray emphasized that Point Park students “should definitely come up to Lawrenceville” to indulge in Dozen bake goods and enjoy the differences from the Downtown location.”People really like the atmosphere of the Lawrenceville location; I see that more as a community destination spot,” Gray said. “Downtown was so small that it didn’t have that same sort of feel to it.”Gray emphasized that Downtown customers can “absolutely call” the Lawrenceville location at (412) 621-4740, to order in and have their order delivered, or they can choose to head up to the Lawrenceville location, located at 3511 Butler St. The Oakland location is located at 417 S. Craig St. and can be reached at (412) 420-5135.”In Lawrenceville and in Oakland, our foot traffic in both of these locations is so much stronger that we can offer a much wider array of products because we can sell them quicker and the demand for them is much higher,” Gray said.