One of Wilmington’s long-standing bakeries has plans to expand in the region while improving its existing footprints in the Port City.

Robert S. Cooley, co-owner of Apple Annie’s Bake Shop, said Thursday that he and his business partner and head baker, Jamy Giufurta, are looking for additional sites in Brunswick County to potentially add a third bakery in the region.

Cooley said officials have identified locations in Belville and Leland’s Brunswick Forest as potential sites but have not committed a lease to any particular location.

Apple Annie’s specializes in signature Italian-American style pastries and breads, such as sprinkle cookies, cannolis and éclairs.

“We’re looking to copy and paste our model and take it to similar locations that value our products and style,” Cooley said. “It’s a significant investment, but the return is watching people enter the door with a smile on their face.”

Cooley added his firm also has plans to ship some of its goods throughout the country, with long-term goals to sell pastries and breads in select grocery stores.

“That’s where we want to get to,” Cooley said of the firm’s push to grocers. “That’s a plan we hope to complete in the future, but right now we are focusing on making our existing locations even better.”

And that means overhauling the look of its two locations in Wilmington.

Cooley is pumping nearly $100,000 in renovations to its 837 S. Kerr Ave. location.

Wilmington-based CCSI is completing the renovations to the store, which has been fixture along the Kerr Avenue corridor for nearly 30 years.

Cooley said contractors hope to complete the upfit in the coming weeks.

Plans call for the nearly 5,000-square-foot space to include new lighting fixtures, splashes of new paint and stainless steel wall fixtures, the incorporation of chalkboards surrounded by custom wood frames and a new freezer.

“We want it to be throwback to the retro industrial bakeries that you find in the Northeast,” Cooley said. “We want to improve the customer’s experience at this location.”

Cooley added that the Kerr avenue store would also include a new consultation room – where with a flick of the finger, customers can view custom cakes to order on mounted iPads while meeting with the store’s bakers.  

“It’s going to be like the Cake Boss of the South,” Cooley said, referencing the hit reality television show’s ability custom design decadent cakes both big and small.
 
Cooley said officials are planning a re-grand opening event for its Kerr Avenue store, although a date has not been formerly announced.

Kerr Avenue’s recent development is also helping to drive the renovation.

With the pending widening of Kerr Avenue, new apartment developments springing up north of the bakery, the renovation of the Harris Teeter on South College Road and Wilmington Homebrew Supply upfitting space across the street, Cooley said the area’s economic momentum is beginning to pick up.

“It really reminds me a lot of urban renewal, which is very exciting,” he said. “People know about out store, and we want to appeal to customers with the renovations we’re kicking off inside.”

Meanwhile, Appie Annie’s will soon celebrate its one-year anniversary at The Forum at 1121-I Military Cutoff Road, after vacating its space at the Landfall Shopping Center in July.

Cooley said many of the qualities and store design found at its The Forum location will be incorporated in the Kerr Avenue location, including coffee roasted by Hampstead-based Java Estate Roastery and free wifi for customers.  

He said updating the look and feel of Apple Annie’s on Kerr Avenue is part of its commitment to its longtime and growing, customer base.

“Our customers, employees, product and community are our four core principles that drive everything at Apple Annie’s,” Cooley said. “All of our products are handmade, artisanal goods, which is something we are known for in Wilmington … and that’s a commitment we plan to keep.”