We called in to meet independent trader Emma Wilson who is the brains and fabulous cake-maker behind Emz Cakes on Chester Street in the town centre.
Emma has run the very successful Bakery and Tea Rooms since 2014 and, originally from Chester, she loves being in Wrexham and is pleased to have made it her home.
Emma describes her shop as “very child friendly” and she even has a “kids corner” to keep toddlers amused. As we spoke several mums with pushchairs came in for a morning coffee and immediately made themselves at home confirming the child friendly status!
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Originally she worked from home, making cakes to order and eventually moved into her premises on Chester Street where she now bakes all of her cakes. She also employs 4 staff, three full time and one part time, who serve her mouth watering cakes either with coffee, milkshakes, cake shakes where you pick a cake and shake or as part of her special afternoon teas. Some customer come to town just to have afternoon tea at Emz Cakes – a fact Emily is particularly proud about.
“lovely people – that’s why I stay here”
Emma said:
“I have a solid base of customers made up of mums and families but we are also now seeing more tourists as the tourism team in Wrexham have done so much to promote the area. Wrexham has some lovely people – that’s why I stay here.
“people love them”
You can sit inside or outside too as there’s seating in the front of the shop and there’s three custom made and brightly painted sheds at the back of the shop – yes that’s right sheds – and Emma explained that people love them, the kids think they’re great and if you want a bit of privacy there’s even a curtain you can pull closed.
There’s more to Emz Cakes than cakes though as we found out just by looking around the shop. There’s a whole array of things for sale that has been produced by local artisans and artists from pots of pickles to wooden hearts. Emma found that when she was starting out it was difficult to become known so by stocking local produce she’s able to help smaller businesses get a helping hand up the ladder.
She also caters for children’s parties where little ones can decorate cup cakes before they tuck in to them and you can also hire her premises between 5 and 7 pm for events which is proving very popular for baby showers!
Emma is very excited about Tŷ Pawb, the new arts and markets facility that’s opening next Spring. She’s certainly got enough vision to see the potential for new customers and is already planning on how to make the most of the opportunity.
“You need your own twist”
We asked Emma what advice she had for anyone wanting to set up business in Wrexham and her answer came as no surprise:
“You have to look at what you’re going to offer and is it different enough to make people want to buy it. You need your own twist and you must be prepared to work hard and be flexible. I can work 80 hours in some busy weeks as there’s always some admin work that needs to be done. But that’s OK as it’s definitely worth it.”
And how about advertising – does Emma use social media like all our other independent traders?
Yes she does and she definitely recommends it for other retailers out there:
“I use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and I think it’s essential for small traders to be on Social Media it’s free and it’s the way to get your name out there.”
Emz cakes is open 10.30 to 4.30 Monday to Saturday and we know you’ll be impressed with this enterprising lady so why not drop in for a coffee and cake the next time you are in town.
We have no doubt Emz cakes will be around for a very long time and we wish her continued success in the town centre.
Councillor Terry Evans, Lead Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, said:
“Emma should be very proud of what she has achieved in such a short time. Her hard work and enterprising ideas have certainly paid off and I wish her all the very best for the future.”
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