Bardstown Road just got a serious sugar upgrade. Bae's Baekery has opened a larger storefront in the Highlands this week, bringing its signature oversized cookies, custom celebration cakes and French-style pastries to one of Louisville's busiest stretches. What started as a home-baked side hustle in 2019 has turned into a brick-and-mortar operation for a husband-and-wife team, and the new shop is built to be more than a grab-and-go counter, with plans for evening classes and pop-up dinners that aim to turn the space into a neighborhood hangout.
According to WDRB, the bakery has moved into the former Oddbird spot at 1021 Bardstown Road, where it will run a retail counter with expanded production capacity. Louisville Business First reports that the McGreevys leased roughly 3,200 square feet from Quills Café and plan to add coffee service, wholesale baking and a nighttime concept called "Hearth" to the mix.
Owner Abigail McGreevy first built a following by selling jumbo cookies out of an apartment before turning Bae's into her full-time job, a trajectory detailed in a recent profile. StyleBlueprint notes that Bae's launched in 2019 and says the Highlands move will give the couple room to host classes and bring in guest chefs, something that was tougher to pull off in their previous space.
The new location blends a daytime pastry counter with those planned after-hours events, so regulars can swing in for cookies and cream puffs during the afternoon and then come back for Hearth programming in the evening once it ramps up.
What We Tried
The new shop offers jumbo stuffed cookies, cream puffs and celebration cakes. For a quick look at the layout and case, there is a walk-through video from the Courier-Journal, and a full menu is posted at Bae’s Baekery.
Why This Matters For The Highlands
The extra square footage puts Bae's in a better position to handle growing demand for specialty pastries and wholesale orders, while adding evening programming that most bakeries on this corridor simply do not offer. A local brand with an established following could help steady that block a bit.
If the Hearth classes and guest chef events catch on, the shop could function as much like a small cooking school as a pastry counter, which matters for foot traffic and late-afternoon business in the area. Bae's current Highlands hours are listed on the bakery's website as noon to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, and custom cakes need roughly two weeks' notice. WDRB notes that Hearth events will be by appointment as the program rolls out; the bakery's site does not currently appear to list a public Hearth class schedule or booking page. Expect lines over the first few weekends, but the larger ovens and production area should help keep waits from getting out of hand for long.
