‘Lots of little things’ led to demise of this Bradley Fair sweet shop, owner says
They gave their Bradley Fair dessert shop three years, Jon Rolph said, but ultimately, they realized it just wasn’t going to work.
So and the end of business on Sunday, Rolph and his Thrive Restaurant Group will close Bakesale Treat Parlor, which has operated in the open-air shopping center at 21st and Rock since July of 2022.
And although Rolph has had big success in the restaurant business — Thrive still owns more than 200 restaurants over five brands (Applebees, Carlos O’Kelly’s, Qdoba and Modern Market Eatery) and is about to open its 15th HomeGrown restaurant — this one still hurts, he said.
“We had an awesome team, and I think it was a great product,” he said. “It just didn’t work to be a long-term sustainable business, which makes us sad.”
Bakesale, which sells a rotating lineup of decadent cookies, cakes, pies, scones and beverages, opened as retooling of a previous Thrive business — Peace, Love & Pie, which had operated downtown at Naftzger Park from December 2019 until June 2022 before moving to the former Marble Slab space at Bradley Fair.
Rolph said that “lots of little things” contributed to the shop’s closing but added that he’s still proud of the effort his team put in to making it work. Since the impending closing was announced earlier this week on Facebook, traffic has picked up at the shop as fans have stopped in for their last brookies. The cookie/brownie hybrid was the shop’s best seller, Rolph said.
Is he willing to share the recipe for that brookie, now that the shop is about to close?
“I think we’ll hold on to that one in case we think of another way to do this,” he said. “We love the product.”
Those who want to visit the shop before it closes should act soon, Rolph said. He predicted that people who wait until Sunday to visit will find slim pickings.
“This will be a ‘while supplies last,” situation,’” he said. “Since we put it on Facebook, we’re already much busier than usual.”
Bakesale’s hours for the rest of the week will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 7 pm. Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 11:06 AM.
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