Lexington bakery moving to new, bigger location to expand beyond desserts
A Lexington bakery is moving after 15 years and plans to offer customers a lot more than cupcakes in the new location.
Caramanda’s Bake Shoppe, which opened on Southland Drive in 2007, is moving to 2220 Nicholasville Rd., Suite 166, which is the former location of Critchfield’s. The new store is expected to open in December before the holidays.
Caramanda’s owner Melissa Henderson said that the 3,000-square-foot location is being remodeled from the ground up to create a bakery, with a separate room for wedding consultations, space for more desserts and even party supplies of all kinds.
“I want it to be a place with atmosphere,” Henderson said. “I want you to walk in and get the idea of what your wedding table will look like, let people see the possibilities ... People say we’re in the bakery business but I feel like we’re in the celebration business. That’s where I hope to go with this new store.”
She plans to continue offering specialty decorated cakes and cupcakes and will add more homestyle desserts like jam cake, cream candy and apple pie.
Dwayne Anderson of House is helping Henderson with the design of the new space, which will still be called Caramanda’s, named for her two daughters Cara and Amanda.
“We jumped on the cupcakes bandwagon when we opened in 2007. That’s what people were wanting so that’s what we did,” she said. “I want to help people who have busy lives make their celebrations special.”
She said that taste is still the most important factor but increasingly “everything’s driven by Instagram. You see these tablescapes and everything matches. It’s hard to get everything together. I want to help people do that. That’s my vision.”
