After months of looking at commissaries, commercial spaces for rent, and bakeries for sale, by early December I was really discouraged: I was close to finalizing the recipes with nowhere to produce and sell them.
Then I remembered Leah of Leah’s Bakery at the corner of Wychwood and St Clair. Back in 2010, I called Leah out of the blue about selling coffee in a bakery. She was so helpful and friendly and even though we didn’t end up selling coffee at Prairie Girl, I never forgot how Leah was so generous in sharing her time and experience that day.
I hadn’t spoken with Leah in the ten years since, but in my discouraged mood, I thought, why not email her? This time around, instead of talking about coffee, maybe we could talk about where to find a place,
And wouldn’t you know it, Leah emailed me right back to say she was thinking of leaving the retail bakery business and let’s talk. Whew!! In the last year, I’ve received stern government emails about why not to have a home kitchen (hey, I thought it was their idea?!), looked at far-flung and cavernous commercial kitchens, trekked up and down dark staircases in vacant premises on empty streets, and received rental listings stating much higher rates than I expected to find post pandemic. All to say, before luck came my way, there were months of either “Uh…no” or “Hell no!”.
Leah’s Bakery at 621 St Clair West has been a mainstay of the St Clair-Bathurst neighbourhood for 14 years and lovely Leah Kalish will have, I think, an emotional day on April 15th, her last day of business in that location (her biscotti and catering business is carrying on out of other premises). I am grateful for her and her husband Mich’s kind, friendly interest in helping my new business get started, warmly introducing us to the building owner, and answering our many questions and requests for access. The creation of Sticky Bakery officially begins April 26th with the team at Sara Leah Design Interiors overseeing the project through May.
I cannot wait: can’t wait to see the finished storefront, start the baking on site, launch the website, and see YOU in the store, trying Sticky’s sticky buns, Fudgies, cupcakes, butter tarts and, oh yeah, Banana Pudding. In the meantime, once again, thank you to all of you who read my blog and get in touch…xo
JB
