NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Erika Bailey decided this year it was time to take a leap and leave her corporate career for cupcakes.

 

The result is Bailey's Bakery, which opened in the former Empire Cafe on Main Street last week. 

 

"I have been baking since I was a little girl with my grandmother," she said. "It's always been something that I've loved to do but I went to school and thought I was supposed to do the corporate thing. I did that for a while and it's definitely not what I wanted to do."

 

Bailey, of Stamford, Vt., was approved by the Planning Board in July but it took awhile to prepare the space inside Keith Bona's Berkshire Emporium into a bakery. The bakery now has ovens and display cases and coffee from Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters. There's still some tables to get in place for when people stop for muffin and a coffee.

 

She plans on having a changing variety of baked goods — cupcakes, muffins, whoopie pies, pastries, brownies, cookies and other goodies. Gluten-free goods may also be available and she takes orders including for cakes. 

 

Bailey said her specialties are probably her cupcakes and cakes. In fact, she had a couple wedding cakes on order. But she also has a sugar cookie that her customers have compared to those once made at Molly's Bakery. 

 

"My sugar cookies are very similar to the Molly's cookie," she said. "People have said that they have liked those as well."

 

The sublet space has been the site of several ventures, including an earlier bakery, Luma's Muffin & Mug. Bailey said she had originally been interested in the old Molly's on Eagle Street but the cost of putting a kitchen back in, and the size of the space, was prohibitive. 

 

"Brendan [Bullett] had given my name to Keith because this was opening so it just kind of worked out," Bailey said.

 

The first week had been a little slow, she said, probably because of the cool, wet weather and that her opening had been quiet. 

 

"There were two guys who came in this morning that said they were going to put a little message out I was here and to figure out when they could all come down," Bailey said.

 

Bailey's Bakery is open Mondays and Tuesdays 7 to 3; closed Wednesdays; Thursdays and Fridays 7 to 5; and Saturdays 9 to noon. Hours may be subject to change.