Would you be interested in scarfing down a French basil or peach bellini cupcake in downtown Sudbury?
Well of course you would, and thanks to Justine Martin's triumph in a contest run by Downtown Sudbury, you'll likely be able to do just that as of September. That's when she's planning on opening Guilty Pleasures Bakeshop and Bar.
Martin, 26, is the winner of the Downtown Sudbury Win this Space contest. She won a year's lease of a downtown property where she can set up her shop — she can choose from five different locations.
Besides having her lease covered, the contest gives her access to a prize package worth $44,000 from several local sponsors. Northern Life, Sudbury.com and Sudbury Living Magazine kicked in a branding package worth $6,000.
“It just means I can start getting my business off the ground or expanding my business much quicker,” Martin said, speaking at the July 4 press conference where she was announced as the contest's winner.
She already owns a bakery she runs out of her home called For Heaven's Bakes Sudbury. Martin envisions Guilty Pleasures Bakeshop and Bar as a combination bakery, lunch spot and after-hours hangout spot.
She said she hasn't chosen between the properties on offer, adding that she's going to have to review them now.
If you'll pardon the pun, winning the contest wasn't exactly a piece of cake for Martin. Kicking off last winter, the contest attracted 30 entries, which were then narrowed down to 10.
Those 10 finalists participated in mandatory workshops put on by the Regional Business Centre and developed business plans.
Then the finalists were narrowed down to five, and last week, they made their final pitch to the judges.
Besides Martin, the other finalists were Kelsey Cutinello of DIY, Kaitlin Lutyk of Nowhere Coffee Space Beverage Place, Jackie Pashley of Soundjack and Courtney Rivard of Waltzly.
Martin said it was “a little bit hard to hold back tears” after she found out she'd won the competition.
“When I stepped up there, it kind of hit me,” she said. “We all worked really hard on this process. It was just the culmination of a bunch of emotions.”
Downtown Sudbury Business Improvement Area (BIA) executive director Maureen Luoma said the organization got the idea from another BIA during a conference.
There's several reasons Downtown Sudbury held the contest, including to encourage entrepreneurs and showcase street-level vacancies in the downtown — not that there are that many these days.
"The last few years, there has been a real strong increased interest in our downtown, especially with independent specialty destination type shops,” Luoma said.
“This seemed to be a perfect time to do this kind of an initiative.”
Downtown Sudbury hopes to run the Win this Space contest again in 2018. “There was strong interest in this one,” Luoma said. “I think that it's a really good program.”
