Saline baking supplies company captures a bigger slice of market

Brian and Anne Schockley, owners of the Baker's Nook in their store.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

You won't find any sign of a sagging economy at the Baker's Nook in Saline. An expansion of its brick-and-mortar operation and strong online retail sales have doubled revenues over the past four years for the baking supplies business owned and operated by Brian and Anne Shockley of Tecumseh.

Anne Shockley and her mother opened the Baker’s Nook in 1994 to fulfill the creative needs of bakers and to supply birthday and wedding cakes to the neighborhood. Brian and Anne wed in 2000, and he began handling the technical operations.

Today, the store on the west side of Saline is 10,000 square feet - twice the size of the original building - and customers come from as far away as Italy for decorations, pans, candles, fondants and toppers.Â

As part of the store’s expansion, which was completed in October, the couple added an elegant wedding cake tasting showroom. They also hired 10 more employees, bringing the number to 15.

Revenues are in the $2 million-plus range - the Baker’s Nook posted 50-percent gains in each of the last three years - with more than half of all sales coming through the operation’s Web site, says Brian Shockley. A new contract to be the exclusive supplier of wedding cakes for the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest hotel is expected to bring in another $20,000 per year.

When Shockley, 45, built the Web site four years ago, the business quadrupled its inventory so that orders could be fulfilled from the store and shipped out the same day. The site attracts 2 million visitors each year, about half of them repeat customers, and ships to 100 countries.

Starting the online business was about survival, Shockley says. Too many niche businesses go under because their customer base is limited by geography.

“The economy, the way it is in Michigan, if we didn’t have a Web site, we’d be in trouble. It’s really taken our business into something we never thought it would do,” he says.

The Baker’s Nook's online presence has generated more foot traffic for the Michigan Avenue store.

“I had a couple in from Italy the other day. They said, ‘We just had to come and see your store.’ The Web site has credence because customers have a place to go. Most competitors are drop shippers; they don’t have a retail store behind them,” Shockley says.

The Baker’s Nook customer base has changed, too. While the majority of shoppers are stay-at-home parents who are looking for special cake decorations or candles, Shockley has noticed more men coming into the store for baking supplies. He speculates that cake baking competitions and cable shows like the Food Network are driving the interest.

“It’s really cool. It should’ve happened a million years ago,” Shockley says.

Julie Edgar is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com