Ally & Eloise Bakeshop opening on Main Street next month

Downtown fans of Forest Acres' ally & eloise Bakeshop will soon no longer have to travel far for the shop's sweet indulgences.

Within a couple of weeks, owner Aleka Selig plans to open the doors to her first satellite location at 1556 Main St., Suite 100, next to Something Special Florist and the newly opened Main Street Public House in the renovated McCrory Building downtown. While Selig does not have an exact open date set yet, she said she hopes to be open by the first week of October.

“I didn't want to open a full second bakery — I wanted something smaller,” Selig said. “The Main Street location is a closet concept. It's literally like a window display where you can get some of our specialty desserts like our macaroons, baby cakes and cake pops and also where you can order from our full menu and pick up orders there.”

Selig chose the Main Street location in an effort to accommodate all of the shop’s customers across the city.

“I was excited about it because it’s Main Street, and Main Street is growing so much,” Selig said. “People downtown don’t really want to drive to Forest Drive to place orders and pick up orders, which I understand. I’m excited because I think we’ll reach a whole new group of people there.”

Selig, a Columbia native who was nicknamed Ally by her father, graduated from the Culinary Institute of Education in New York City with a degree in culinary arts and management before returning home to Columbia to be near family and to fulfill a dream of opening her own bakeshop. In April 2012, Selig opened ally & eloise at 5209 Forest Drive across from Shandon Baptist Church, paying homage to her beloved French bulldog in the shop's name.

Ally & eloise is the second area bakery to announce a satellite location on Main Street within the last several weeks. Irmo's Blue Flour Bakery announced last month that it will open a location in the Brennen Building's First Citizen's Cafe space at 1210 Main St. next door to Bourbon whiskey bar and Creole kitchen. The location will be the second for Blue Flour since owner Teri Pringle opened the first at 7703 St. Andrews Rd. in Irmo 10 years ago.

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Ally & Eloise Bakeshop opening on Main Street next month."