Downtown Baltimore has a new excuse to eat cereal long after the morning commute. Day & Night Exotic Cereal Bar quietly slid into the lower level of the historic Women’s Exchange this winter, turning classic boxed cereals into over-the-top desserts that look like they were built for your camera roll. Since its late January debut, the neon-soaked shop has quickly become a downtown talking point, with weekend crowds queuing up for sugar-loaded shakes and selfie shots.
Local Owners, Local Opening
Local operators Noel Warner and Brandi Forte opened the Baltimore franchise on Jan. 24 in the lower level of the Women’s Exchange at 333 N. Charles Street, according to Baltimore Fishbowl. The pair later cut the ribbon with the Downtown Partnership in late February, and the launch was supported in part by a Baltimore Culinary Exchange grant meant to bring fresh food concepts into the city’s central business district, WMAR2 News reported.
Cereal, Milkshakes and Colorful Bowls
On the menu, breakfast nostalgia gets remixed into a full-blown dessert. Customers can build their own cereal bowls or turn their favorite boxes into milkshakes, ice cream bowls, waffles, and doughnuts. The brand advertises more than 100 cereal varieties in rotation, which show up as everything from crunchy toppers to the star of the dish, and the company bills the shop as an all-day dessert destination rather than a strict breakfast joint, Day & Night notes on its site.
Nostalgia, Jobs and a Local Mission
“We wanted something nostalgic, something fun and family-friendly,” co-owner Brandi Forte told The Banner. The outlet also reports that Forte runs a nonprofit that trains participants in culinary arts and entrepreneurship, and that the shop’s first hire was a formerly incarcerated person who completed that training before joining the team, according to The Banner. The Downtown Partnership notes on its program pages that its broader downtown work includes workforce initiatives and partnerships that emphasize second-chance hiring and small-business support, according to the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.
Part of a Bigger Downtown Push
The cereal bar is the first of several dining concepts set to open with backing from the Downtown Partnership’s Baltimore Culinary Exchange grant program, part of a larger Downtown Rise effort that directed funds to new and growing food businesses downtown, Baltimore Magazine notes. The BCX awards were designed to activate vacant restaurant spaces and to prioritize minority and women-owned concepts as a piece of the city’s downtown economic recovery strategy, Baltimore Fishbowl reports.
For now, Day & Night lists its hours as Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., on its website, and the owners say business spikes during big downtown event weeks like CIAA tournament activity, with weekend lines at times stretching out the door, according to The Banner. The neon cereal shop is doubling as both a sugary burst of fun for visitors and one of several small-business experiments the city is betting on to bring more feet, and more flavor, back to the heart of Baltimore.
