Describe your ideal bakery?

Question

If you were opening your own bakery, how would you set it up? Would you have it be walk-in only or set up tables where customers could sit and eat there if they chose? Would you want it as a corner shop of a strip mall or as a free-standing building?

Feel free to share any other details you would include.

Answer 1

Corner shop in a strip mall, lots of parking, easy access from highways. Seating for people to drink coffee etc. Table with WIFI access. Open at 5:00 A.M. for early commuters with hot bread, donuts, etc, but not breakfast sandwiches. Serve fresh made sandwiches for lunch, but not cooked food except maybe soup.
Have hot fresh bread for the crowd going home, biscuits, etc.
Have a drive through if possible. Do not serve Alcohol or drinks from a fountain, but have bottled water, milk, and drinks in a refrigerator. Also have an area where people can special order things like cakes, donuts, pies, fudge, and party foods.

Answer 2

If I had a bakery, it would be one that appealed to all of the senses. I would have it in a corner space in the historic part of downtown. I would buy mismatched wooden chairs, tables and china cabinets, then distress them and paint them in soft colors like cream and baby-blue. I would paint watercolor murals of countryside scenes on the walls, then display my items on mismatched milk-ware and serve in-shop food on mismatched china and silverware.

My visible baked items would be decorated to look like they are covered in white frosting lace and chocolate Celtic knot-work... I would sell a large variety of pastries from around the world and also sell bake-at-home mixes with ingredients like lavender, mint leaves and vanilla beans.

If possible, I would have indoor and outdoor seating. I would decorate with live flowers potted in weather-worn terra cotta pots, and I would play old world instrumental music softly in the background.