Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Cupcake Gallery Closing Next Month

We're not happy about this, having grown addicted to Darius's Red Velvet creations, but today friends of the Cupcake Gallery and Uptown Pie Company received a letter, excerpted below:
I’ve decided that it’s time to dream bigger and take bigger steps.  That’s difficult to do when you’re holding on to a part of the past.  I look at it this way; success has different levels and is defined in different ways.  Once you align your actions to your vision, then you can truly determine how successful you really are.  Only you and your heart know how to measure your level of success.  It’s time to kick this theory into overdrive.

Therefore, I regrettably need to inform you that, as of November 27, 2011, I will be closing The Cupcake Gallery and Uptown Pie Company to focus on future business endeavors.

This is a happy time for me.  The last 2 and a half years have been tremendous.  The support every customer has shown are beats that will be forever etched in my heart.  I’m grateful for that.  Some people will never know how that feels.  I consider myself blessed. As I’ve always done, I will be sure to communicate my next entrepreneurial endeavors. It’s a good one too.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, Nov. 26th.  We’ll have free wine, free cupcakes, and free pie at the bakery.  I’d love to say thank you in person for all of your support as well as have one final toast in the name of cupcakes & pies.  Formal invites will be going out soon so e-mail me (
darius@everydaycookin.com) so I can add you to the evite list!
We wish Darius the best of luck in whatever he does next.

16 comments:

  1. Bad baking = no profit. He's closing due to lack of business...no doubt.

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  2. Sorry to say, cupcakes are a fad food. Fads pass. Wish them all well in future endeavors.

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  3. Hope they honor all the coupons they sold.....

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  4. Doubtful. If you read all of the Yelp reviews, it doesn't seem like they have been honoring the Groupons/LivingSocial deals over the last few months. And if they have, they have been making it very hard to do. Bad business practices+bad reviews+not-so-great product= in business no more.

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  5. "Bad business practices+bad reviews+not-so-great product= in business no more."


    meh, this place would have made tons of cash in Lincoln Park. The problem is the location, Uptown isn't exactly filled with the demographic that blows cash on cupcakes.

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  6. I'm considered that he is going to be giving away free wine at his closing party. The locals will be staggering around the block drunk on his free wine.

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  7. Alek, bad cupcakes are bad cupcakes, no matter where they are. Uptowner's can and will keep a good business afloat, and cupcake shops are closing all over the city because they are not making a killing anywhere, not even in Lincoln Park.

    The cupcakes in this shop were really pretty bad, I'm surprised it stayed open as long as it did, bad decor, bad food, bad service...bad business model.

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  8. I did taste some of their delights and they where pretty habit forming. A real tough business to own and make enough profit to stay around. Too bad a Golden Nugget or a IHOP does not open in Uptown as they sure are going to stay in business with the lines of people I always see trying to get in them on weekends.

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  9. Geez, we're having a great event here next month, with the speakeasy basement of the Uptown Broadway Building open to the public, the re-opening of the Borders building, a showing of a Charlie Chaplin film that was shot in Uptown nearly a century ago with original music, historic tours, independent publishers, lots of press, lots of attention on Uptown as a showplace... and what is the readership of UU fixated on? Slamming a locally owned business.

    Very disappointing.

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  10. Caring neighbor, Stay on topic. One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

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  11. I am saddened to see a local business close, especially one with a local following like Cupcake Gallery/Uptown Pie Company. I wish Darius well and much success in his new venture, whatever they may be.

    That being said, I am not surprised to read about the demise of Cupcake Gallery. My first job was at a small retail store during high school. The owner told me on my first day of work that there was one store policy - the customer is always right. Based on my experience and the Yelp reviews for Cupcake Gallery, the customer service at Cupcake Gallery was severely lacking. From missed orders to poor business practices that lead to the cancellation of a Groupon deal, treating customer poorly is no way to run a successful business.

    While I wasn't a fan of their cupcakes (I thought they were oily), I will miss the pies from Uptown Pie Co. I found their pricing much too high for their product, however. I wanted to buy an apple pie for a dinner party a few months ago, and it was over $23. Even the pies at the popular and delicious Hoosier Mama aren't that expensive. Uptowners are fiercely loyal to well-run businesses, but you need to price your products fairly. I hope this experience is a lesson that Darius will take to his next venture.

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  12. and americanlt's ridiculous obsession with liquor continues. Why don't you start an Uptown Temperance society and see how many people join you in your misdirected blame.

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  13. realnic, liquor fuels a lot of the violence in the area. It goes hand in hand with dope. SheridanPark Liquors caters to the vagrants & winos in the area. We need a "dry" Uptown.

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  14. All the negative comments and look at him now 3 restaurants and alot of other businesses

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