- Magnolia Bakery, a cupcake shop that started in Manhattan's West Village and was popularized by "Sex and the City," is planning on expanding across the United States.
- The bakery already has nine locations in the US and 17 internationally.
- We visited the original location of the famed cupcake chain to see what it was all about.
Magnolia Bakery, a little cupcake shop that started in Manhattan's West Village and was popularized with help from "Sex and the City," is about to take over the United States.
The cupcake chain has been slowly expanding under CEO Steve Abrams' guidance since he took over Magnolia in 2006. Currently, there are six Magnolia Bakery locations in New York, plus outposts in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The chain also operates 17 international locations across seven different countries.
Earlier this week, Abrams told the Wall Street Journal that the company plans to open as many as 200 additional franchises across the US in the next five years.
While some have argued that the cupcake craze has long been over, Abrams said that cupcakes only make up about a third of the company's sales. It also sells popular cakes and banana pudding.
We recently stopped by the original Magnolia Bakery in the West Village to see what it was all about:
Magnolia Bakery's original location is in a small building on the corner of Bleecker Street and West 11th Street in New York City.
The inside of the bakery was smaller than I expected it to be, and it smelled overwhelmingly like sugar.
The windowsills are lined with decorative cakes and cupcakes, carefully arranged on a pink-and-white polka-dot tablecloth.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider