By Eric Mistry
mistryer@grinnell.edu
Students in pursuit of a supremely sweet sugar rush have fewer blocks to walk these days. Yumi’s Bakery & Deli, purveyor of wonderfully delicious cupcakes and other baked goods, is moving to a new location on 930 West Street after several years spent in their Main Street location.
“Our lease was up, so we were looking for somewhere that gets more traffic,” said Yumi’s owner Heidi Rockwell. “Our new location right near Kum & Go should be more accessible.”
The new digs boast a variety of advantages, including closer proximity to the campus and a redesigned space. With the change in location come plans for expanded hours in both the morning and evening, and job opportunities for students at the College.
“We would love to see more students,” Rockwell said. “The new space is brighter and more uplifting. We’ve got TVs and a seating area, so it’s designed to be a fun place to hang out.”
On the food side, Yumi’s will offer daily soups and freshly baked bread, but its sweeter baked goods will feature even more prominently in the new space.
“We’ve decided to focus more on the bakery side of things,” Rockwell said. “We’ve got more display cases in this location, which means we can feature more cupcakes at a time.”
Yumi’s cupcakes are quite popular with students and were even briefly sold in the on-campus Bob’s Underground Café last spring. They range in price from $1.25 to $1.50. Crowd favorites in the cupcake arena include peanut butter cup, margarita, champagne and other fun flavors.
Cupcake enthusiasts can try them all at “Cupcake Happy Hour,” a fun event every Thursday from 3-5 p.m. that features a veritable smorgasbord of cupcake varieties.
Drinks to enjoy with the cupcakes include espresso, coffee, smoothies, Italian sodas and more. Yumi’s continues to offer custom cake design and cupcake orders.
Rockwell looks for and values customer involvement. She maintains an active Facebook page (search for Yumis Baker) where she can take custom orders and often hosts contests with delicious baked goods for prizes.
“Look out for a ‘design a new cupcake’ contest coming soon on our Facebook page!,” Rockwell said. “The winner will receive some of their cupcakes for free.”
The new location is tentatively set to open February 11.
“Though the move has been all-consuming, we’ve been redesigning everything about the space to make it perfect and we’re so excited to see it turn out,” Rockwell said. “We also designed it so there’s a window to the kitchen and people can watch the cakes and cupcakes being decorated.”
Rockwell also mentioned that a student discount would soon be offered, which would just be the icing on the (cup)cake.