SALEM, Ohio – When a real estate agent showed Bake Me Treats owner Gabriele Brocker a storefront in downtown Salem, she knew that’s where she wanted to open her second location.
“I fell in love with it,” Brocker said.
The 657 E. State St. space is the perfect size and her shop fits with the surrounding small businesses.
“Salem has a lot of events that help promote the businesses,” Brocker said.
Bake Me Treats opened in 2015 in Poland, and Brocker knew she wanted to open a second spot. A regular customer in Poland has a Salem connection and set up the meeting between Brocker and the real estate agent.
The Salem store opened Sept. 6. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
That varies slightly from the Poland shop’s hours, which are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The Poland store is at 16 S. Main St.
Bake Me Treats’ specialty is its macaron, a French confection made of two almond meringue cookie shells with a tasty filling, creating a sweet, pretty sandwich cookie. The filling might be ganache, jam or buttercream.
It’s not to be confused with the macaroon, although pastry novices often do. A macaroon is an Italian cookie made from shredded coconut and often dipped in chocolate.
Bake Me Treats offers 18 macaron flavors – 15 regular and three seasonal. Regular flavors include buckeye, salted caramel, lemon, lavender and funfetti. Current seasonal flavors are pina colada, peach ring and smores.
In early 2022, the shop began online shipping nationwide. It ships brownies and items such as bags and mugs with the Bake Me Treats logo. Macarons are available for shipping from fall to spring. Temperatures rise too high in the summer to ship them.
Besides the hours, another difference at the Salem store is a seating area, WiFi and coffee and tea sales. Those things used to be available in Poland, too, but were discontinued to make room for freezers and office space that were needed at the store.
Brocker hopes to open more locations in the future. She’s eyeing parts of Trumbull County and other communities in Mahoning County as possibilities.
Pictured at top: Gabriele Brocker, owner of Bake Me Treats, stands in front of the Salem location, 657 E. State St.