Christmas 2025 and Beyond

Is this the beginning of the end for Cakewalk Chicago?

This is a longer read. It needed to be.

How is it even possible that there have been 20 years of Cakewalk Chicago.

Does your world look different without this local South Side baking supply store?

No one stop shopping in-person place to get help when your project is due tomorrow and shipping didn’t show up like it promised.

No one on the floor who knows your name, your kids, your preferred brands, or what you’re actually trying to pull off with not enough time or money.

No institutional knowledge older than TikTok.

No one to look at a problem cake and say, “I’ve seen this before, here’s how to fix it.”

No emergency supplies when Prime ain’t priming.

No truly edible glitter you can trust, because “non-toxic” does not mean edible, no matter what the internet says.

No safety net behind your deadlines. Just virtual carts full of guesses and hope.

I’ve hugged more people in this store than I’ve sold to. I’ve given away time, product, advice, and grace because this place has always been about more than transactions. But care does not keep the lights on unless people show up with money.

Starting a business is hard. Staying open for 20 years is harder. And right now, Cakewalk Chicago is at a crossroads.

Sales have slowed in person. Online convenience trained a lot of us to chase “cheap” and fast, even when it costs more in the long run. At the same time, tariffs, rising food costs, new ingredient rules, and plain old exhaustion are hitting everybody at once. Many people are just trying to eat. Celebrate what?

Here’s the reality.

If Cakewalk Chicago stays open, it won’t be because of vibes, memories, or people saying they love this place. It will be because customers choose to walk through the door and shop here on purpose.

Before we go any further, I’m answering two things people always ask.

“Why not just have longer hours?”

Longer hours only work if there’s enough consistent traffic to pay staff during those hours. Right now, extending hours without increased in-store purchases would raise costs without raising revenue. That doesn’t help. It just accelerates losses. If sales support it, expanded hours become possible. Until then, they don’t.

“Why not just move everything online?”

There are already a million online cake supply options, and people use them. Cakewalk was built as an in-person resource. The value is real-time help, institutional knowledge, troubleshooting, and trust. Turning this into another online shop would erase the very thing that makes it useful. Convenience already exists everywhere. That’s not what this place was built to be.

This is a test.

To keep Cakewalk Chicago open, the store needs to average $5,000 per week in in-store sales. Not once. Consistently.

That number isn’t extreme. It covers rent, utilities, staff, restocking, and allows this place to function without burning me out completely.

We’re giving this through the end of Q1.

If 20–25 people a day treat Cakewalk like their first stop instead of their last resort, we stay open.

If that doesn’t happen, I’ll take the information seriously and make decisions accordingly. And yes, I will let y'all know who did the body. 🙃

It’s about need and use.

If this store has ever saved your order, your sanity, or your deadline, this is when that matters for the future.

Until then

Part Two is coming next week.

That’s where I’ll share what I’ve been building when I’m not behind the counter, including ForkLore and the work happening beyond this storefront. Cakewalk and that work are connected, but they run on different fuel.

For now, this is the question in front of us.

Do we keep this place alive by using it, or do we let it become a memory?

Lori

Cakewalk Chicago