by TM Petaccia

It’s been a steady, deliberate climb for Mary Jayne Wilson and her Thoughtful Baking Co., starting with pop-ups and area farmers market tents and baking in a leased commercial kitchen, then offering Charlotte’s first baked goods vending machines, to now having a place to call her own.

Friday, May 8, Wilson will open her first brick-and-mortar shop, located in the former Sweet Spot Studio space at 4418-A Monroe Road, in the commercial strip behind Common Market Oakwold.

“Being over at the shared kitchen and doing the markets was always meant to be a temporary path to having our own storefront,” Wilson says. “But that turned out to be a pretty sustainable business model for a long time. I’ve been looking for a space for a while and this place kind of fell into our lap.”

In July 2025, Sweet Spot Studio owner Jossie Lukacik made the decision to sell the business and move to Alaska with her husband. The new owners later closed the business. “We really got lucky,” Wilson says. “Most of the kitchen stuff was already here and set up, so it was just some cosmetic changes that we had to make.”

Those changes reflect both practicality and personality. A newly cut service window frames a pastry case, while the walls are lined with pages from vintage North Carolina church cookbooks.

When open, the store will sell the pot pies, quiches, and seasonal fruit pies that have made Thoughtful Baking Co. popular at farmers markets, but Wilson will be adding additional items such as banana pudding, milk and cookies dessert jars, classic Southern pies by the slice, biscuits, and pound cake, plus custard and cream-based pies.

“I’m really excited because doing the markets, everything’s had to travel. Go in a box, go in a cooler, and sit outside for hours,” Wilson says. “With the store, we can do a lot more delicate things. We’re going to do a lot of R&D. We’re working on a biscuit cinnamon roll, which I think is going to be great.”

Always a supporter of area farms and food artisans for her baked goods, Wilson sees additional opportunities to incorporate more local produce in her offerings. “We’ll be able to make smaller batches of things instead of having to make enough for four or five markets at a time,” she says. “We will be able to get more creative.”

The new store doesn’t mean removing herself completely from the farmers market and popup scene where the business gained so much popularity. Thoughtful Baking Co. will still be selling weekly at the Uptown, Matthews, and Davidson farmers markets, although Wilson did decide to no longer be a vendor at Charlotte Regional Farmers Market.

Looking ahead, Wilson is also considering programming beyond retail. By summer, she hopes to introduce classes in a dedicated back area of the shop, much like the prior Sweet Spot Studio offered.

The Oakhurst location itself is part of the appeal for Wilson. She describes the commercial strip as “baker’s alley” with herself, Verdant Bread, The Accidental Baker, and Whisk + Wood (a commercial baker) all located just a few yards from each other. “I’d love to do some kind of collaborative bakery crawl over here at some point,” she says.

Using the “slow but sure” philosophy that built Wilson’s business, initial operating hours reflect that same deliberateness: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wilson plans to evaluate demand before expanding.

“I’m just so excited to have this opportunity to have people come in and to sell outside of Saturdays,” she says.

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