CakeLove and Love Cafe are growing!
We’re planning the growth of new storefronts are on the way for 2007. But the question is, of course, location, location, location? Tell me what’s the best next hot-spot. I want CakeLove to be where our customers want us to be, so let me know.
And if anyone is wondering whether I’ll do all of the necessary due diligence, marketing studies, and demographic studies to confirm the promise that each location offers – I will. But there’s no harm in asking for feedback and sometimes the traditional methods and standard metrics for evaluating a location don’t reflect the real potential.
So I’m taking the question on-line to hear your thoughts. I can’t promise that we’ll open in a neighborhood near you but I’m curious to know what you think about a few locations currently under consideration. WE ARE ONLY CONSIDERING COMING TO THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS. NO LEASES HAVE BEEN SIGNED. (sorry for the all caps but I need to be clear about this)
Shirlington, VA – right off the I-395 exit. This would be a hybrid CakeLove bakery and Love Café. We would bake everything on site, sell slices of cakes and all of the cakelove pastries, whole cakes, plus coffee, and a limited selection of sandwiches and salads. The focus would be cakes, cupcakes, and other sweets. Hours would probably be 8 am-9pm, weekdays, and open later on Friday and Saturday nights.
Clarendon, VA –Love Café + CakeLove bakery. A hybrid CakeLove bakery and Love Café, but the design would be driven by the textures, look, and feel of Love Cafe. We would bake everything on site, sell slices of cakes and all of the cakelove pastries, whole cakes, plus coffee, sandwiches, soups and salads. The hours would play to a later crowd, probably 10am-11pm, weekdays, and open later on Friday and Saturday nights.
Rockville, MD – near the county building at the north end of Rockville Pike. This would be a hybrid CakeLove bakery and Love Café. We would bake everything on site, sell slices of cakes and all of the cakelove pastries, whole cakes, plus coffee, sandwiches, soups and salads. Hours would probably be 10am-9pm, weekdays, and open later on Friday and Saturday nights.
Capitol Hill – just off Barrack’s Row in Southeast. This would be a bakery only with limited in-store seating, like really limited. Pick-up and delivery service would be available for the Hill. Hours would probably be 8am-7pm, weekdays, and shorter on the weekends.
Dulles Airport – a mini-CakeLove serving cookies, cupcakes and coffee to go. Pre-packaged small cakes for 8-10 people packed ready to-go, too? This would be a really small bakery with freshly baked smells wafting through the concourse.
Any thoughts submitted will be read and taken into consideration. I’ll try to respond to each of them. Thanks for your help!
July 1st, 2009 at 7:22 am
I’m admittedly ignoring your all caps with this comment… my apologies… but to put in a plug for a Shaw location near the convention center. In particular, there are several great old warehouses in Blagden Alley that could make great bakery locations instead of Capitol Hill. There’s one on N Street between 9th and 10th (934 N Street, NW, owned by Furioso, I believe) with a street presence for limited retail, off-street parking, alley and street frontage, and a loading dock. Such a location is near 395 and the metro, is accessible to your U Street locations, and would get foot traffic from convention-goers as well as the neighborhood.