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ST. LOUIS — One of the owners of the Missouri Baking Company Inc., known for its Italian cookies and desserts, has filed a lawsuit that could end her family’s century-plus run in the Hill neighborhood here.

Co-owner Camille Lordo filed a petition with the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Court on Friday to discontinue the bakery business and dispose of its assets, saying she and Edward Wilson Baking LLC are “unable to agree upon the desirability of continuing the business of Missouri Baking Company.â€�

The shop, at 2027 Edwards Street, was started by Stefano Gambaro, who emigrated from Genoa, Italy, to Missouri in the early 1900s. In the business’ early days, it was a wholesale bread company.

Stefano’s children took over the bakery after Stefano died. The youngest sibling, Ben, eventually sold Missouri Baking Co. to his kids — Stefano’s grandchildren — Camille “Mimi� Lordo and her brother, Chris Gambaro.

Over the years, the bakery also shifted to include retail sales of traditional sweets and holiday cookies.

“The story goes that people from the neighborhood would knock on the door and ask, ‘Could you make me a cake?’� Ben Gambaro . “So they said, ‘Sure, we’ll make you a cake.’ Then they’d ask for bread, then seeded cookies. More and more of that happened, and eventually, they went less and less wholesale and more toward retail.�

The bakery has since become a staple in the community, while landing accolades from national and local press:

In 2001, the Food Network filmed a feature there. In 2014, the Riverfront Times named its amaretto macaroon the Best Cookie. In 2021, Sauce Magazine said its cookies were the “best holiday treat.�

And in 2024, the Post-Dispatch Headliners competition called it the best bakery.

Cherie Galimberti has lived three doors down from the bakery for five years, but was born and raised in the Hill and was brought up with Missouri Baking Co. treats.

“We used to stop by on the way home from school,� Galimberti said. “I’d get a chocolate drop for 5 cents.�

Along with her fondness for the drops — small, round donut-like morsels — Galimberti remembers her grandfather going to the bakery once a week to buy a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting.

“To me, there’s no other bakery,� Galimberti said. “I tell people I love living here because I open my doors and smell the best smells in the whole world.�

Across the street, resident Pima Palmeri said that she’s watched lots of people come to the bakery every Sunday, Friday and major holidays. She has lived on Edwards Street for the past 35 years and said the bakery has always been popular.

“They have good stuff,� Palmeri said. “It’s a nice bakery with nice people.�

Neither Lordo’s attorney, Mark Sanders of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, nor Edward Wilson Baking’s registered agent, V.A. Favazza, responded to requests for comment.

The bakery is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.