Edinburgh business: New bakery shop Sweet Bella's opens in Corstorphine with some sweet treats for sale

New Edinburgh shop has soft opening after online success

An Edinburgh baker has held a soft launch of her new shop Sweet Bella's in Corstorphine after baking and selling treats online since the pandemic.

Sarah Bald, 25, opened the shop at 38 St John’s Road on Thursday, with the soft opening including today, Friday, and Saturday, before officially opening Thursday to Saturday, 10am-4pm every week from August 24. The shop is named after Sarah’s grandma Isabella who inspired her to bake, and her beloved dog Bella.

She said: “I have had my business, Sarah Bakes, for two years now. Working from home I started off doing cakes for celebrations like weddings and folk would get cupcakes from me.

Sweet Bella's is officially opened by Sarah, her dog Bella and beloved grandma Isabella.

"My parents have an accountancy firm in Corstorphine for 10 years and I worked there for a year after leaving university so I have had my eye on this wee shop for a while. The woman who had it before grew her bakery and moved across the road to larger premises. It’s owned by the Corstorphine Trust so I got in touch with them and here I am.

"Everyone in the area has been so lovely and welcoming. It’s a really lovely community.

"The shop is absolutely perfect. It’s a wee bit small, but it has been brilliant so far. This week I have had four hours sleep the last two nights, and been getting up at 4am. I have been working 12 plus hours every day.

"For the first few months I will only open Thursday to Saturday, then maybe hire someone to be front of shop while I bake at home.

Sarah Bald is delighted to have opened Sweet Bella's after finding success selling sweet treats online.

"At the moment it’s just been me and my mum, bless her. I couldn’t do without her. My mum and dad let me use their spare room for baking, so I genuinely couldn’t do this without them.”

Speaking about her inspiration for baking and the shop’s name, Sarah added: “My grandparents would look after my brother and I during the school holidays and I loved baking with my grandma, and I’ve loved it ever since.

"My grandma loves the shop. It was her dream to be a chef and she never got to do it, she ended up working in a shoe shop. So she loves the place. I got her to cut the ribbon to open the shop on Thursday.

"Her and my grandad mean a lot to me. He has always called me daisy so when my brother and sister-in-law were designing the shop logo I got them to add a daisy.

"I studied psychology at uni, where I started doing this as a hobby, but started the business during Covid, but found it hard to get flour at first during lockdown. It was at the end of 2020 I started getting a lot of orders and things took off. I sell traybakes etc to a few cafes too so it was busy.”

Speaking about her hopes and dreams for Sweet Bella’s, Sarah said: “My main goal is to make the classics but with a little twist. Dessert style cupcakes for example. Take what we all love but make them a bit more interesting.

"Short-term I hope to hire someone to work here with me, but long-term I would like to get bigger premises and open a baking school. I was taught by my grandma and then I couldn’t find anywhere in Edinburgh that teaches you more on baking.

"And the ultimate goal is to open other branches and have a chain of Sweet Bella’s.”