Fellows Wants Kids To Have Jolly Good Time

If Lake Forest entrepreneur, wife, parent and cup cake baker Laura Fellows has her way, the children of the area will have the perfect replacement for the Toy Station when she opens Jolly Good Fellows Sweet Boutique on Market Square in a few months. Her target is May.

She will be selling fresh baked cup cakes, frozen yogurt, candy, gifts and maybe a little more but most of all she wants to provide a place for young people to enjoy themselves and families to congregate.

Earlier: Yogurt and Sweet Shop Fills Last Open Spot on Market Square

“We lost the toy store,” Fellows said. “We need a place for children to hang out and feel safe, a place for families to go on the weekends and be together.” The shop will be open most evenings as well. She promises ample seating.

Fellows will combine some very traditional family treats with modern amenities. While people enjoy 18 frozen yogurt flavors and eight to 10 varieties of cup cakes which will change on a regular basis, they can take advantage of Wi-Fi.

Candy offerings will be what Fellows describes as retro. “It will be the fun choices we had growing up,” she said. “Kids can come in and spend a dime. I’m trying to keep prices down.”

Using her own kitchen as a test laboratory, Fellows has been baking cup cakes and then texting her friends and her children’s friends when they come out of the over. There have been more than a few positive comments to previous stories attesting to Fellows’ skills.

The kitchen will give way to a full commercial bakery that will be turning out more than cup cakes. “We’ll have brownies, cookies and Rice Krispy treats,” Fellows said. Cup cakes will be a major focus. “I love the way kids like them.”

Though Fellows will be in a position to take an order for a birthday or other celebratory cake, that will not be her primary focus in the beginning. “The first few months my goal is to make the community happy,” she said.

Another major goal for Jolly Good Fellows will be inclusion rather than exclusion. She has hired a gluten free pastry chef and insists there will be something in the place for all children in the community.

“A lot of children have allergies,” Fellows said. “There will be offerings of items that are peanut free, gluten free and sugar free.” She plans on a variety of these specialty items. “We won’t supply one choice.”

The gift section will be geared for everyone but there will be price points which will suit a child’s allowance. “They will be fun and unique,” Fellows said. “They can get a toy and candy and we’ll wrap it up.”

While the name of the business might seem like a natural as well, it was a suggestion from her oldest son, Carter. The family—Carter, Morgan, Ben and husband Fred Fellows—was sitting around the table when Carter had his brainstorm.

“He said ‘why don’t we call it Jolly Good Fellows’ and we didn’t think any further,” Fellows said.

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