Friday, November 6, 2009

Hi There, Cupcake!

"The Cupcake Gallery Dude" says, We’re opening this Saturday – 11/7 at 10 AM. We’ll have a limited selection – but for all the folks that mention Uptown Update – we’ll give a 10% discount.

Drop by at 1319 West Wilson - next to Fontana Grill - look around the scaffolding and there they are! Uptown needs new businesses and people willing to take a chance on bringing quality retail to our little corner of Chicago. Please stop by and make The Cupcake Gallery feel at home.

Update: Metromix has a brief article about the opening, mentioning that somehow Uptown has survived without a cupcake shop until now. No more!

13 comments:

  1. Dang, I work til five on Saturday... I hope they still have cupcakes when I get back to the neighborhood!!

    They are open til 8pm on Saturday, according to their website.

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  2. Honestly, I don't get the new trend in cupcake stores, or understand how they can be profitably, but totally welcome these guys and encourage all to grab a cake on the way to the train.

    Cupcakes, yoga studios, wine bars...these are the types of establishments that frequent upwardly mobile neighborhoods.

    Don't get me wrong, bodegas and currency exchanges have their place, but we need food traffic generating business. Brings in revenue, keeps the beasties away and generally creates a pleasant neighborhood.

    Let's keep them coming. The fewer empty stores the more attractive the area will be for other businesses. Maybe even to be brave enough to venture over past Broadway to my side of Wilson. :)

    Yay! Cup cakes!

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  3. Just in time for holiday sweet-stuff-season! YAAY! Hope they have some great gift packages in Dec.

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  4. My girlfriend wants to try this place tomorrow. Hopefully we can walk the block and a half there without being shot.

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  5. I had a red velvet today. Very good. The place itself is rather bare but they make a good cupcake. I mentioned Uptown Update but did not get 10% off. The girl at the register didn't know what I was talking about. It's a nice addition to Wilson Ave.

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  6. I got there just in time for a banana cupcake with strawberry icing, the only kind they had available at that time. Nice but a little too "moist" for my taste. I'll give them a second chance later. Hopefully they'll get a glass display case soon so they'll look like a "real" bakery.

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  7. In all honesty, it's nice to have a new business in the neighborhood, but the place needs work.

    a) Tiny cupcakes for $2.50 seems rather expensive, as tasty as they were. I was disappointed that only 2 flavors were available, but it's understandable for the first day.
    b) It was rather bare and unwelcoming.
    c) The cashier was handling money and cupcakes with the same set of hands. :(

    I look forward to seeing improvements in the weeks to come.

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  8. The cupcakes were really good. HOWEVER the owner should seriously hire someone with a little experience in interior design than try to do it himself. He needs to partition off the unused side of the store and hide it from public view and just concentrate on the area hat has the counter. The overall appearance of the interior space is very off-putting.

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  9. The place itself does need a hostile makeover. I would volunteer to help him decorate.

    I mentioned to Darius, the owner, that I thought they were kind of small. But he said the cups are the same size as those used by other cupcake houses.

    %25 off today on vanilla cupcakes. I just scarfed down too.

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  10. Also- the owner needs to get an ACTUAL BAKERY CASE. i cant emphasize how important this is. People want baked goods in a well-lit glass case.

    As well, what kind of coffee are they serving? Do they know how much repeat business they would get if they were brewing Metropolis or Intelligentsia or something of that type? I'd be there every morning for at least a drink!

    Good luck, guys

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  11. Gee, folks, someone's put their life savings into opening a business in Uptown. We all say we're starved for retail.

    From cupcakes to yoga studios.

    And, to quote Norma Rae, "ka-vetch, ka-vetch, ka-vetch."

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  12. Hey folks - thanks so much for the comments - I really appreciate them. It's been a struggle just to get open. I was laid off in June and I had to figure out what was next. All I had was cooking - so that's what I turned to. I'm just a kid from the inner city. Getting funding was VERY difficult. I had investors that dropped on me left and right. After a tedious process, I finally got open. My goal is to make the best cupcake that I can - and so far, that seems to be working. I'm glad they taste good.

    I'm no interior designer, but I can tell you once we get enough revenue, we're going to redecorate the joint and have it outfitted with wi-fi and such...we just need to grow to that point.

    Thanks for all that came out so far to support. It means a lot!

    Join us on 11/22 for our huge grand opening party at 12 noon - 2 words, free - cupcakes! As well, we'll have free wine and games and give-a-ways...it'll be fun!

    -Darius

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