‘like going to grandma’s house’
Story and photos by Todd Thompson
Whether it’s the delicious scent of freshly baked muffins or cinnamon rolls, or the sweet aroma of assorted fudges and truffles, it’s easy to tell that there is something tasty cooking up on Main Street in Hartselle.
It’s hard to miss the sweet smells of Main Street Bakery, located in the city’s historic downtown district just west of the train tracks.
The Main Street Bakery is loaded with old-town charm and history. The owners have even found bullet holes from the 1920s, remnants from an infamous robbery that still captivates local historians.
Main Street Bakery is the combination of a great location and a husband and wife team who saw the prime corner building as the perfect location for an upscale bakery. Christy and Darren Urban also own a dress alteration shop on Main Street, a district that attracts people from all over north Alabama and beyond.
The corner building started as the location for Puckett’s Drug Store and has gone through plenty of changes. Over the years, the location has been offices, restaurants and other assorted businesses.
And now it serves up a wide variety of treats, sweets and sandwiches.
The Urbans opened the bakery almost two years ago to a hungry crowd and they’ve been serving up delicacies ever since.
“Our first night was the night of the Christmas parade on Main Street,” Christy says. “We just offered cookies that night and we ran out of those before the night was over.”
Since that opening night, the menu list has continued to grow and now includes lunchtime items like croissants, wraps and paninis, along with a wide variety of gourmet salads.
“This is like going to grandma’s house,” she says. “We want to make people at home in downtown Hartselle. We want to be hospitable to everyone who comes to our city. We want to treat them like family. We hope when they come to our bakery, they feel right at home.”
Hartselle has become a destination for future brides looking for that special wedding dress at nearby Something Blue. What they find is a conglomeration of shops that make the downtown a place to spend an afternoon or a whole day.
And Main Street Bakery is always available for social gatherings with a cozy dining room upstairs that features a prosecco bar that serves mimosas, champagnes and lattes. The second level of the bakery’s historic building is perfect for bridal luncheons, teas and baby showers.
Tea time, guitar music and takeout
Recently, Main Street Bakery has started offering English afternoon teas.
“We host the teas on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, and it has been a big hit,” Christy says.
Fridays bring the added sounds of classical guitarist Giovanni De Chairo, who first came to the bakery as a customer passing through Hartselle on his way to Nashville from his home in Louisiana. De Chairo has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall and at the Vatican in Rome for Pope John Paul II.
The Urbans know that sometimes customers don’t always have the opportunity to take time to enjoy the bakery’s food and social offerings. For those customers on the run, Main Street Bakery has a full lineup of take-home tubs, including honey chicken salad and a Southern chicken salad, pimento cheese, pasta salad, cucumber salad, grape salad and house pickles. There is also a wide variety of specialty items, including jams, books, gifts, coffees and teas, and other assorted items.
“Visitors can come here and enjoy our bakery goods or sandwiches, but they can also purchase unique items to take home,” she says. “We have lots of unique goodies for purchase.”
The hometown feel of Main Street Bakery isn’t just a marketing gimmick. For Christy Urban, it is her home. A native of Hartselle, she lived in the north Alabama city until she was in the seventh grade and her family moved away. But the draw to return to the city was always in her mind.
“This is where home is. This is where family is,” she says. “We just love Hartselle. It really brings all the aspects of home and family for us.”
Christy spends most of her afternoons running the couple’s original Main Street business – Urban Altered – the dress alteration shop located just a few doors down from the bakery location. But in the mornings, she can be found at the bakery working with a staff of talented bakers and cooks.
“I know how to hire great cooks,” she says. “Our staff is just incredible.”
Darren Urban handles a wide range of jobs at the bakery as bookkeeper and maintenance guy and he is always ready to step up to lend a hand with the dishwashing.
Main Street Bakery isn’t a fast-food establishment, but rather a social gathering place for customers to linger and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere to chat and visit with friends. Many visitors are making their first trip to Hartselle and the Urbans want them to find a hospitable home away from home.
“We get so many people stopping by that are coming off the interstate,” Urban says. “It is a very social atmosphere, and we get to see lots of people from different areas. Our customers come from all over the South, and they become like our family. We’ve had people come in from north of Hartselle on their way to the beach and they come back every time they head back to the beach.”
Main Street Bakery
104 Main St. W, Hartselle, AL 35640
256-502-9775
Instagram: @104mainstreetbakery
Facebook: mainstreetbakerycafe
Hours:
Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Breakfast: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Lunch: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
