Bunde’s Bakery owner clarifies position on 89 North Shore Drive

By James Windell

Although Jim Sankofski, owner of Bunde’s Bakery at 89 North Shore Drive, South Haven, made a brief statement at the October 6, 2025 South Haven City Council meeting, he had more to say.
Speaking to the Beacon a few days after the City Council meeting, Sankofski said that people need to be clear about his side of the issue.
Sankofski bought the bakery, that was started by Bunde in 1942, in 1995. “This group of residents that now say they want to end the non-conforming use of this property if I sell it are taking away the added value of this business and this property,” he said. “This business is our retirement plan. These people have no forethought about how cutting the value in half will affect me, my wife, and our family.”
Although Sankofski says he has no plans to sell the business, his goal is do what Bunde did with him; find someone who wants to be a baker and train them to continue the business. “That’s my goal,” he says, “to find somebody like me who wants to learn how to bake and turn the bakery over to them sometime in the future.”
The north side residents who want to keep the “residential character” of the neighborhood do not know the history of the north side, Sankofski says. “This area used to have a casino,” he recalls, “and my family had a restaurant and bar at the corner of Dyckman and North Shore Drive from 1979 to 1989. When my dad developed Alzheimer’s, they had to leave, and we sold the property to a condo group. So, I’ve seen what was here before when there were several restaurants over here. The City has taken one after another away from the north side, but I refuse to let that happen with my business.”
Finally, Sankofski says very directly that he and his wife are going to stay at 89 North Shore Drive “as long as we can.” “I don’t care if we’re commercial or not, what I care about is keeping the business running. After I sell it at some time in the future, that will be up to someone else what happens.”