Monday, May 12, 2014

Virginia-Highland Getting its Very Own Slice of Pie Shop

The Pie Shop is coming to Virginia-Highland.

Pie Shop will soon open a new location in on Highland Avenue in Virginia-Highland.  The new retail outpost will be slightly smaller than the original Pie Shop in Buckhead, and will have limited seating.  Plans call for the new location to open "in a couple months." The Pie Shop Virginia-Highland replaces shuttered boutique Honey Butter, next to Moe's & Joe's.  

Owner Mims Bledsoe, who resides in Virginia-Highland, opened the first Pie Shop in 2011 in Buckhead.  Located at 3210 Roswell Road, Pie Shop is hidden from view but  is situated alongside dtox juice bar and Storico Fresco, a purveyor of fresh pasta.  


Bledsoe began a Kickstarter campaign in early September of last year with the goal of raising $35,000 to finance the new location.  In October, at the conclusion of the campaign, just shy of $12,500 had been raised, but it seems the pieces fell into place for her to open the second shop anyway.  

In a September 2013 piece from the AJC, Bledsoe says the new location “will be all about service and creating atmosphere.” "The original location will remain the production facility, while the second will have both a pastry counter and comfortable seating.  She hopes to create a warmer place for people to linger over a cup of coffee and thick wedges of pie."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was in Benjamin Moore next door to Pie Shop last Monday and they said they're moving from this Buckhead location. Makes me wonder if they're going to be in the Highlands only or if they'll relocate that (horrible) location. The pie is wonderful, so I hope they do!

SB said...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Glad to fill the space but figured the landlord had plans to combine spaces when I saw the 2 soft goods tenants leave at the same time.

On a tangent, I don't get this kickstarter nonsense. You have an existing business and you want to expand so people give you money? Just hand it to you? What ever happened to presenting a business plan and performance history and raising equity as well as a small business loan for a portion? If the businesses we're attracting to VH need kickstarter to get going, we're in trouble.

Unknown said...

SB, they don't usually just give you money. They give you money and you give them something in return that they wouldn't normally get: discounts, special items, etc, It's a way of figuring out if there's a market for what you're trying to do without committing long term capital.

Anonymous said...

This is a good addition. The current clothing shops are at a good level. Looking forward to stopping in here. The Italian Market across the street, Toscano and Son, is also new and sells great panini sandwiches which are affordable. I hope the rent doesn't force these great places out.

Eternalspring said...

SB, Kickstarter and Indigog can be confusing as they are part of a structural shift in our financial system. It is for legal reasons they can not offer equity, but equity crowd funding is where we are going. The advantage we are getting from using a social platform is that people in the community can support ventures in their community. A hybrid between the social and the business model of the past you referred to would be to use company like Prosper or Lending club to get a loan though from the crowd to do that venture. Again the advantage of that would be perhaps you and I if we like to have the Pie Shop in our community, perhaps we would require lower return on our loan to them. In not to distant future we will be able to build our retirement portfolios with local debt and equity using such new social financial platforms. As we work out the kinks in the law the Kickstarter gives us an insight into what's to come. Cheers!

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