Simple Sugar Bakery opens for walk-in business tomorrow in Wash Park

Starting tomorrow, a Washington Park neighborhood bakery that had been baking its cakes, pies and cookies only by special order, will start opening a couple of hours every Saturday morning in the very small space it shares with a Basil Doc's pizzeria.

Simple Sugar Bakery, located at 2107 East Virginia Avenue, plans to be open to the public every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m., offering coffee and breakfast-specific baked goods, such as scones and muffins.

This Wash Park location is not the only Basil Doc's that shares space with another business. Rise and Shine Biscuit Kitchen and Cafe, located at 330 Holly Street, also shares an address -- and even a phone number -- with the Basil Doc's at that address.

The cooperative concept is courtesy Basil Doc's Mike Miller, explains Rise and Shine owner Seth Rubin. Basil Doc's doesn't open until late afternoon, the space is open at other times of the day, which works perfectly for a breakfast cafe.

Ditto a bakery like Simple Sugar. Before he moved into the Holly Street space, Rubin says, it was used by a commercial baker, too. He describes the relationship as more like a partnership than a typical landlord/lessee arrangement. "It has been great sharing a space for all parties involved," he adds.

Shacking up has other advantages, such as saving on energy, Rubin notes. For example, Rise and Shine staff are able to turn on Basil Doc's pizza ovens before pizzeria workers arrive for the evening shift, so the business doesn't have to keep the ovens on all the time.

Rise and Shine has been open since January. For more information about Simple Sugar Bakery, call 303-332-8600.