Carolyn's Cake Decorating Supply has existed in Spokane for over 25 years. The original owner started her business out of her garage and quickly moved to a tiny storefront on the corner of Hamilton and Indiana.
For nearly 15 years, Carolyn Largent, the current owner, had been doing cakes for family and friends out of her home. Eventually, her whole kitchen often was completely covered with cakes waiting to be decorated, as demand for her passion grew much bigger than she ever imagined.
In 1983, her husband, Don, saw a 'For Sale' add in the paper for a cake shop. Ironically, it was already named "Carolyn's" and the coincidence, fate, or whatever, was just too compelling to pass up. Carolyn loved the challenge of making cakes and enjoyed all of the other products associated with the business, so why not keep going with it and get it off her kitchen table at the same time! Besides, she knew that if there were people out there who wanted help, she could share the knowledge that had served her well for so long.
Within 5 years she outgrew her little shop on Indiana. Down the street at 1705 N. Hamilton (just 2 blocks south of the original store), a space almost triple in size became available. Carolyn's business steadily grew as she sold supplies for cake decorating, candy making and cookie making. In addition, she continued producing custom cakes on a special order basis.
By 1994, during the wedding season (typically June through August), she was averaging 4 wedding cakes per weekend. With all of the demands of running a growing retail business, producing custom cakes became no longer feasible. Since that time, in addition to teaching others through her cake decorating classes, she has concentrated on providing the area with the largest variety of cake, cookie, and candy making supplies.
Now Carolyn is ready for retirement and is enjoying transitioning the day-to-day operation of the business to her daughter, Jennifer Gatts. She will continue to be involved as much as she likes, and enjoys coming to work without the responsibility of running the show. Along with all of Jennifer's other contributions, Carolyn's has now added an online sales feature to its walk-in retail business. Although Carolyn's will always maintain its personal, human touch relationship with its customers, the business is moving into the 21st century and the on-line store is completed. In addition to selling products online, it will eventually host many pages of helpful tips and techniques in each area of the business: cake decorating, candy making, and cookie making.
