A decades-old, family-owned bakery in rural south Arkansas is set to open a spinoff shop to address a consistent demand from residents in Little Rock for its array of concoctions, one of its co-owners says.
Cinnamon Creme Bakery, a concept launched by Truman Cooper and his wife, Crystal, will supply Arkansas’ capital city, and particularly Little Rock’s west side, with at least some of the selections of its pioneer location in Star City.
The 1,770-square-foot bakery is poised to open by mid-September at the Centre at Chenal shopping center. It will face northwest just south of The Promenade at Chenal off Chenal Parkway.
“It’s a good feel there, and we have quite a few customers who come to the area, so we’re going to try to satisfy more people there,” Cooper told Arkansas Online on Thursday.
Before landing on west Little Rock, the owners had also considered sites in Sheridan, Benton and Bryant.
Plans for the menu — which items would remain from its predecessor, what would be removed based on already-met demands in Little Rock and what might become new fixtures — were still being worked out as of Thursday.
“It is quite an operation,” Cooper said, noting that most of the business’s baked goods are made from scratch.
For the time being, the pair, who do not have a permanent address in Little Rock, will travel to launch and manage Cinnamon Creme Bakery.
Cooper's brother operates the family's inaugural bakery, Country Village Oven Bakery, in Star City, a town of around 2,150 residents about an hour-and-a-half south of Little Rock. Its 21st anniversary is next month.
Built off Lincoln County Road 10, the shop is part of a blip of commercial development in a mostly rural and wooded area. The bakery itself is hidden from view to passersby, but a trek past a steakhouse and leather shop at Country Village leads to its discovery.
Online, patrons praise the bakery of nearly 21 years for its selection of bread, pies and cakes.
Recognizable in particular, Cooper said, are its cinnamon raisin pull-apart bread with icing and its white chocolate caramel pie as well as an assortment of fried pies such as coconut creme and blackberry.