Laura Young's custom cookie and cake bakery Bakes by Lo opened its first standalone storefront Sept. 12 at 4045 Main St. in Old Hilliard.

The 1,600-square-foot space is about four times the size of the roughly 400-square-foot stall where Young launched the business inside Center Street Market in 2020. About 1,200 square feet is kitchen. The rest offers indoor seating and a small patio.

"We were working with two tables at our old space," Young, who calls herself the bakery's "chief cookie artist," told Columbus Monthly ahead of the opening. "Now we have four people working at the same time and sometimes, we'll stop and look up and say, 'Look at all this space!'"

Young, 34, said the bakery outgrew its market stall quickly. By 2024, Bakes by Lo had combined with Coffee Connections to share a kiosk inside Center Street Market just to gain elbow room.

The new storefront sits inside the former Ketchum's Garage, a building that served Old Hilliard for decades as a Chevrolet dealership and later an automotive service center. After the garage closed upon the owner's retirement, Andy Warnock's Westwood Collective purchased the property and chose to renovate rather than demolish it.

Westwood converted the building into two tenant spaces. Bakes by Lo occupies one half. Cyclical Nature Bicycles, a bike shop previously at 4566 Cemetery Road, will occupy the other.

The Hilliard Development Corporation awarded a combined $70,000 grant to support improvements to the property, according to the city's announcement. The grant covered exterior concrete, painting, artificial turf, lighting, signage, bike racks, landscaping and outdoor furnishings. Angela Zody, Hilliard's downtown manager, said in a Jan. 13 city announcement that the project supports local entrepreneurs while maintaining the character of downtown Hilliard.

Warnock, who is also a Bakes by Lo customer, approached Young about relocating after Westwood bought the building, according to the Hilliard Beacon.

Young grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Lyndhurst making birthday cakes for her family. She graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in speech and hearing. She worked at a dental office before turning her baking hobby into a business.

Owners of Crooked Can Brewing Company spotted her at a farmer's market in 2019 and invited her to open a stall when Center Street Market launched in 2020.

The bakery specializes in handmade custom cookies and cakes and now serves coffee using beans from Coffee Connections in Hilliard. Young plans to add pastries, croissants and kolaches and eventually expand into wholesale distribution and mail-order shipping.

Bakes by Lo is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.