Just Delicious Scones opens new location
Bakery area more than double the size of original
After 27 years of making her Just Delicious Scones in a 500 square foot bakery area in Roseville, Jen’s Scone and Treat Co. owner Jennifer Stockwell-Colombo decided it was time to move to larger quarters.
This week, Just Delicious Scones bakery and gift shop opened in St. Clair Shores. The new location on Harper Avenue south of Nine Mile Road is a bakery and gift shop featuring various specialty teas, books and heirloom-style tea items. The new location is a bakery and retail space only; there is not a dine-in option.
During an average holiday season, when business is at its peak, Just Delicious Scones produces 70,000 scones a week that are sold at over 60 markets in Michigan as well as StockwellColombo’s Royal Treat Tea Room in Roseville and The Pink House Tea Room in New Baltimore. As much as she loved her original bakery space on Utica Road, Stockwell-Colombo realized it was time to grow.
“I realized a larger bakery was a necessity,” said Stockwell-Colombo. “I’m comfortable in a small kitchen, but my bakers were so thrilled to move into a larger space. I knew this was the right thing.”
The St. Clair Shores bakery is housed in a 3,000 square foot building, which also features a small retail area. The availability of the space was unexpected, but when a baker friend told Stockwell-Colombo she was moving out of the building and offered Just Delicious Scones first dibs on the property, Stockwell-Colombo took it as a sign.
“I knew it was the right thing,” she said.
The Just Delicious Scones
grand opening on April 7 was well attended. Free samples of various varieties of scones were available as well as samples of a refreshing iced hibiscus tea and scone enthusiasts appeared to find the tea-related items charming. Stockwell-Colombo says the younger generation is bringing back the “tea culture” that was embraced by
their grandparents and great grandparents.
“You have 15-year-old girls that are really interested in their grandmothers’ heirlooms,” said Stockkwell-Colombo. “They are interested in the tea culture and are curious as to what the history is all about.”
Cranberry-apricot is the original flavor that sparked
Just Delicious Scones but the classic cherry-almond is the most popular. From pistachio to mocha to white chocolate raspberry and key lime, Just Delicious Scones has something to delight everyone’s taste buds. The plain classic scone is also extremely popular, particularly with European customers.
“I had a lot of European customers asking for a plain classic scone and I thought they meant vanilla,” said Stockwell-Colombo. “But I found out it is just the plainest scone you can imagine with a little sugar on top and there is something about the texture that just makes it so delicious.”
As committed as Stockwell-Colombo is to creating the most succulent scones possible, she also feels it is important to pay homage to the history of the tea and scone culture. It was a Duncan Phyfe dining room set placed at curbside for trash pickup that inspired the Grosse Pointe native to open her first tea room.
“I saw an old woman in the window of the house with the furniture at the curb and I decided I had to take her some scones and find out what was going on,” said Stockwell-Colombo. “She told me that her daughter had moved in and threw out all of her stuff. I told her I would come back and pick up all of that furniture and start a tea room. She grabbed me and hugged me.”
The Duncan Phyfe buffet cabinet that was on the curb ended up serving as the counter in StockwellColombo’s first tea room, which was right next door to the current Royal Treat Tea Room location on Utica Road south of 12 Mile Road.
Stockwell-Colombo said Just Delicious Scones could not have grown and been so successful without her tremendous bakers — including her two oldest sons — and her staff.
“My team is phenomenal and I’m very excited to be in St. Clair Shores,” said Stockwell-Colombo.