Laira Brown has been baking and decorating since a very young age. Starting out helping her grandmother at the age of four, a memory Brown has framed in her shop today. Brown started her home bakery seven years ago, five of those years being in Pampa.
“I started in Oklahoma,” Brown said. “In the end of 2016, we moved to Pampa for my husband. His family is all here and so we felt it would be a good move to Pampa. This September will be eight years I’ve been doing this.”
Last Saturday, March 25th, Brown held her official grand opening of her mercantile and bake store on Duncan.
“The mercantile came about because I love all things craft and mercantile related,” Brown said. “So I wanted to add that, my thought was that if someone came in to get a birthday cake, they may need a gift as well. So it’s a bit of a one stop shop.”
Brown has years of experience in baking, but her grandmother and aunt are both bakers themselves. Brown and her husband have moved back and forth between Pampa and Oklahoma many times, but 2016 was the one that stuck.
“We always felt that tug of war between here and Oklahoma,” Brown said. “But we’re here now, I’ve opened this shop and I couldn’t be more blessed.”
The store, being a baked goods and mercantile store has a lot to offer. From home-baked goods to home decor.
“We have a little bit of everything,” Brown said. “From wreathes, candles, lotions and hand soaps to handbags. We’ve got a lot to offer and we’re happy to be here.”
When the Brown family moved to Pampa in 2016, Laura began doing baked goods from home and building her clients. After battling with the idea of opening a bakery, the idea wouldn’t get away from her.
“The owner of this building, Jessica Lynn, kept telling me put your bakery in there,” Brown said. “I kept saying no no no. It was worrying, I didn’t know if the economy would work for this, or if the people of Pampa would take to this. So we met Jessica up here in February and I just thought you know let me pray about it. So I did a lot of praying, my husband and I both and we decided okay let’s do this. I had built a good return customer base, I think the time is right. God is telling me the time is right, and here we are.”
Brown has always had a passion of baking, but the mercantile/gift store was the core dream she’d had for many years.
“I’d worked in many gift stores and loved it and always dreamed of opening my own,” Brown said. “So that was one thing I really wanted to do. I love baking, but I just thought it wouldn’t work, opening a bakery. So when I felt God just telling me it was time, I put the two together and thought okay, this will work.”
The store is opened Wednesday through Friday’s, 10 til five and Saturday’s 10 to two, but with plans of potentially extending the Saturday hours. Their first offical day open was Wednesday the 29th.
“I still taking all the baking calls and needs through the week nine to five,” Brown said. “The first week has been wonderful. It has been a blessing, it has gone better than we even expected. I have cried a couple of times because this has been so humbling to see my customers come in and wish me well and praying for the business. Saturday was an amazing opening, and the first week has been amazing.”
Baking a cake is simple, but the meaning behind the work and the relationships extended further than a transaction for Laira.
“We put up collages of the work I’ve done in Pampa, and I broke down. My son said why are you crying, aren’t you happy. I said well yes, but it’s reminiscing,” Brown said. “When you start thinking about all the cakes, and the people and relationships built behind them, it means more than just an order. This business and what I do is a part of my heart.”
The company, Sophisticakes, has a Facebook page that showcases examples of work done. Facebook is also a way to get in touch with Laira, or by contacting her at (405) 434-1783
