Poplar Pastries officially opened its doors Thursday, joining the Central Street community after months of delay.
Run by married duo Ian Willa and Georgia Peters, the bakery specializes in homemade seasonal pastries and desserts. The shop currently carries a variety of fall flavors, from apple pie scrolls to cardamom buns.
Willa, who has been a pastry chef for over 20 years, said he has dreamed of opening his own store. He and Peters have been working since spring, when they secured the spot, to get Poplar up and running.
Peters said that as they got closer to opening day, the excitement and joy grew, even after dealing with various problems within the building. The shop was set to open in July, but the opening was pushed back due to unexpected renovation issues. Peters said despite the delays, she felt constant encouragement from the community.
The bakery, located at 1814 Central St., is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday through Monday.
In the past few weeks, Poplar opened for special hours to soft launch their pastries, consistently selling out.
On opening day, the bakery saw a similar trend — as soon as the door unlocked Thursday morning, customers began flooding into the store to try the couple’s creative, flavorful combinations. Around noon on opening day, the owners shared a photo of a “sold out” sign on Instagram, captioned, “Evanston!!! You surpassed our wildest expectations. Thank you all for the amazing show of support on our opening day!”
One of the shop’s first customers was Evanston resident Ben Johnan, who attended the soft-opening and was eager to return on Thursday for the grand opening.
“I always enjoy having businesses doing well in the area, especially for (Poplar), as a husband and wife team,” Johnan said.
Johnan was accompanied by his dog, Charlie, so they stopped by the building’s special walk-up window to order, which has a water bowl sitting next to it. Willa and Peters said they wanted to make their bakery friendly for both human and animal Evanston residents.
The space currently does not have seating options, but they plan to add outdoor patio seating in the spring, Peters said.
The shop is also located next to the Central Street Metra station, and the owners said they hope Poplar will become a regular stop for commuters. Evanston residents Matt Henderson and Jenny Mak both travel into Chicago for work and said they are excited to have another place on Central Street close to their morning walk.
“For many years, we always walked by this spot, and we were hoping either a restaurant, bake shop or coffee shop would come in,” Henderson said. “We’re very happy that it’s open now.”
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