Wichita bakery that lost its Towne East lease finds a buyer — and a new home
A month ago, River City Sweet Shop owner Marilyn Ramsey said that she’d lost her lease at Towne East Square and that — instead of facing the bakery’s fifth move in four years — she would close her bakery for good.
The only hope, she said at the time, would be if she could find a buyer fast: Everything had to be out of her space at the Towne East food court by Aug. 3.
But Ramsey did find a buyer, and now, her bakery will live on in another location, something that fills her with relief, she said this week.
The buyer is Kim Snare, who in December took over Cameo Cakes — Wichita’s longest-running local bakery. Now, Snare has bought River City Sweet Shop and will combine the two bakeries.
Snare, who just this week moved Cameo from its longtime spot at 2403 W. 13th St. to a bigger spot directly next door at 2401 W. 13th St., will keep Ramsey on as a consultant for at least six months and will add her recipes to Cameo’s already long list of offerings.
Snare said she’ll call the new business Cameo Cakes Bakery & River City Sweet Shop. She’ll continue to serve the cakes, cookies and pastries that Cameo is known for but will also add River City’s unique menu to her list of offerings. This means the business will now carry items it didn’t before, including River City’s cake balls, cheesecakes, macarons, brownies, jumbo filled cupcakes and more.
The combined bakery will serve both businesses’ previous sugar cookie recipes, which are much different from each other, Snare said. Her customers would revolt if she changed her sugar cookies, and vice versa.
“We’ve done pretty well,” said Snare, who before she bought Cameo last year owned a chocolate business and a business called Homemade Dinners 2 Go. “But it’s going to be fun to have somebody who’s been doing it longer than I have.”
She also said that the new Cameo will become a place where people can stop and linger over a sweet treat. Soon, she’ll be adding tables and chairs to the new Cameo space along with a soda machine and a coffee bar serving a full lineup of espresso drinks.
The bakery’s hours will be 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
Last month, Ramsey described herself as heartbroken when she found out her month-to-month lease at the mall had been terminated without her having a chance to compete for the space, which will soon be home to a boba shop. She said she’s still sad about the whole situation but is overall relieved about the outcome.
“This works out for the best,” said Ramsey, who earlier this week did endure her fifth move in four years after all. “I was hoping that someone would come in, and I had a couple other people that were interested in it. But I really liked the fact that Kim and Cameo are the best.”
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