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| | | Cupcakes, anyone? | | June 22, 2009 | | | | Voice Correspondent | | Five o’clock is quitting time on a Sunday evening at Eastern Market, but folks are still stacked up three deep at The Fine Sweet Shoppe, hoping for one last delicacy to fill out their dinner table. It’s the end of a six-day week for Jenny Glasgow, plying the eager neighborhood with black-and-white cookies, artisanal breads, and especially cupcakes.
“Cake for one is a very big trend right now,” Glasgow says between customers. “We’re always making changes, we’re always evolving, to stay abreast of the trends and the new competition.” The Fine Sweet Shoppe’s wares are baked on the premises, largely under the care of manager Rachel Acol, but Glasgow keeps a hand in the proceedings.
The Fine Sweet Shoppe is a Hill stalwart, filling its corner of Eastern Market with a sweet, yeasty bouquet since 1946. Glasgow has been behind the counter since 1987, a happy convergence of her background in retail and marketing, and her husband Richard’s family roots in the market. The Glasgows’ imprint on the market includes seafood and meat, extending back for generations. Richard Glasgow remains involved in the seafood business, as do his brothers.
As the original market building prepares to reopen for the first time since 2007’s tragic fire, Jenny Glasgow reflects on her time at the shop, and the community she’s adopted. Though the role of the neighborhood bakery hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years, the neighborhood itself has evolved, and with it, the bakery’s offerings. “When I started here, five dollars for a loaf of artisan bread would have been unheard of. Now we have people who don’t think twice about a five dollar loaf of bread.”
Though the faces at the counter and the neighborhood’s tastes may have changed, the warm reception for the market’s established merchants has been a constant. “The neighborhood has always been there to support us, and the fire really exemplified that,” Glasgow says. “It’s shocking how supportive they were and still are.”
With the market’s “soft” reopening scheduled for June 26, and a major street festival following on the 27th, Glasgow has her hands full putting the finishing touches on the bakery’s new digs. “I’m hoping I have enough time between our Health Department approval and our actual opening. I hope we have enough time to get up and running and fill the cases,” she says.
Those cases are emptying out now, as the day’s final customers clamor with the enthusiasm of a 3-year-old anxious for a freshly wrought treat. “So many of the things we make are delicious and they’re worth the trip,” Glasgow says of her eager patrons. Then she boxes up one final round of cupcakes, six single servings of sweet, frosted comfort.
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