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Not Just Cakes Bakery & Café closing its doors
Christopher’s isn’t closing
Despite rumors to the contrary, Chris Odom, owner of Christopher’s Uncorked Bistro on Main Street, assured his patrons the popular upscale restaurant and its upstairs banquet room are not closing.
“I’ve heard that rumor a couple times,” Odom said, laughing. “Times are very, very, very tough but I haven’t given up yet.
“Our business dropped drastically after the BP oil spill,” he added. “On top of that was the economy because the Seventh Special Forces hadn’t arrived. The reality was people didn’t have as much money in this area and weren’t spending as much.”
Odom said he is still trying to recoup losses from 2010, when he had to shell out his own money to keep the restaurant afloat. But, he said, he can already tell the economy is turning around and the new year is looking brighter.
“2012 is looking better already!” Odom said. “I’m seeing the troops now, and in my neighborhood, I’m seeing the troops are home after Iraq and they’re starting to come into the restaurant.”
A tough economy claimed another victim when Renae Willis, owner of Not Just Cakes Bakery and Café, announced she will be shuttering her Main Street business.
Willis said slow foot traffic volume and slow lunch business led to her decision to close the shop she opened two years ago. Willis said her bakery will close as soon as she can sell off fixtures and furnishings.
“It is bad news,” Willis said. “We’ll be closing as soon as we can. We just want to sell off all this stuff.”
“Her closing is hugely disappointing,” Main Street Crestview Association manager Ryan Arvay said. “That’s a loss to downtown.”
“It shows the difficulties of operating a mom-and-pop business downtown,” said Main Street attorney Nathan Boyles, who operates Yellow River Vineyards with his wife Crystal and sells their wine at Not Just Cakes.
Boyles said the closing of Willis’ bakery and café was felt among other downtown business owners.
“I was having my regular breakfast with my grandfather, and there was sadness from the ladies at the Tropical Palm that Renae was not able to make a go of it,” Boyles said. “That speaks to the fabric of the community. Business owners are smart enough to know that we need each other and providing the number of businesses that we have makes downtown a viable business model.
“It’s not that we have one of each business but that we have choice for the consumer. People may not know exactly where they’re going to eat when they come downtown, but they know they have a good variety of places to choose from,” Boyles said.
“Businesses here don’t consider each other as competitors,” he added. “They consider each other as partners, even if they are selling similar goods and services.”
Boyles, a proponent of strengthening marketing for Crestview’s downtown merchants, said the closing of Willis’ business might have been avoided had it been integrated into an organized promotion of downtown as a shopping and dining destination for locals.
“I think it’s an additional indicator why we need to further organize the merchants downtown and develop some leadership from within the merchant community as we try to promote downtown Crestview,” Boyles said. “Downtown has a lot to offer to citizens. We need to let the folks who move to this community know there’s a vibrant downtown here.”
Boyles cited the popular model of a “downtown” shopping experience in malls such as Destin Commons, which simulates a “Main Street” district, could be applied to Crestview’s commercial heart, which has the added advantage of its historic authenticity.
“The advantage that a Destin Commons has over Crestview is they have a unified manager who can coordinate promotion and advertising and a theme,” Boyles said. “I think we can have the best of both worlds. We can have the authentic downtown feel that Destin Commons strives to simulate, but we need the coordination and marketing they are good at.”
Meanwhile, for fans of Not Just Cakes’ spectacular brownies, cookies, cupcakes, cannoli and éclairs, Willis said she hopes to continue producing the pastries for which she is renowned, possibly as a caterer.
“I may be closing my shop, however I’m still here. We’ll still be doing good things,” she said. “I wish I could continue here (on Main Street) but I’ve lost too much money as it is.”
