ee shop

fills retail, latte void in downtown Lapeer

eLAPEER, MI ver had a homemade Pop-Tart? Here’s your chance.

Opened in spring 2021, CREAM is a coffee shop that specializes in gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan friendly alternatives.

But in addition to traditional coffee shop options, CREAM offers homemade pastries based off the owner’s grandmother’s recipe.

Samantha Warren, who owns the shop with her mother Nickol Schop, stumbled into the pastries by accident.

Suddenly, Warren and Schop found themselves without a baker after the previous one backed out. Warren had to scramble.

“So I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, like, what are we going to do? Like, we are a coffee shop. We have to have something,’” Warren said.

Months later, on Small Business Saturday, Warren sold out 400 pastries. She does themed avors with different llings during every bake. Right now, CREAM is offering holiday themed pastries alongside favorites like cake and cookies and cream.

CREAM is located in downtown Lapeer on the corner of Nepessing and Court streets.

The business opened brie y before COVID-19 began in March 2020, but then shut down for a year while it found its place in the community.

“We kind of regrouped and thought about where we wanted CREAM to go and what we wanted it to be,” Warren said. Warren looked at the downtown Lapeer community and wanted to bring a calming-atmosphere coffee shop that doubles as a retail store.

More than 50 vendors, local and nationwide, are featured on the shelves in CREAM. Everything from Zingerman’s Candy to Camp Craft Cocktails to Public Goods care products are for sale.

It was important to Warren to ll a retail void that she sees in downtown Lapeer, which has plenty of resale stores but not enough retail stores, in her opinion.

“I feel like we’ve got something for everyone. I feel pretty con dent in saying that” Warren said. Recently, the business has capitalized on some pop-up themed events that have brought hundreds to downtown con dent in pop-up downtown Lapeer.

CREAM hosted a “Cereal Saturday” with themed drinks and pastries, Small Business Saturday goodie bags and is planning another pop-up for Valentine’s Day next year. The business has a handmade neon sign that reads “you want CREAM with that?” designed from Warren’s handwriting. She must have rewritten it “like 100 times,” Warren said. It’s just one part of the very carefully designed interior that Warren is proud of. In her free time, she works in interior design with partners through Instagram.