Magnolia Bakery Coming to Chicago

By Soyoung Kwak in Food on Nov 20, 2010 5:00PM

Cupcakes have been a hot food item for several years now, and it looks like this gustatory trend has no intention of slowing down. Rumor has it that famous New York bakery, Magnolia Bakery, has been shopping around for a space on State Street to bring the famous cupcake store to the Loop. If everything goes smoothly, Magnolia Bakery hopes to open during spring of 2011.

Apparently, this doesn't come has a huge surprise -- Magnolia Bakery has been planning for an expansion for quite some time (they currently even have a bakery in Dubai), and along with a store in Chicago the bakery is planning on opening up a store in Boston. Even though Magnolia is famous for its cupcakes, current owner Steven Abrams is pretty adamant about opening up a bakery, not just another cupcake store in Chicago:

"I am in the bakery game. That is one of the things we need to distinguish. I sell 60 products. Cupcakes is one of them. We are not coming to town as the cupcake place."

Magnolia became a name synonymous with cupcakes after an appearance in an episode of Sex and the City, which some people say began the thriving "cupcake craze" which has lasted for over a decade. Magnolia Bakery first opened up in New York City in 1996 and has been growing ever since. Let's hope Chicago is ready for the New York bakery behemoth.