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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Residents will have a new place to satisfy their sweet tooth when Pastries on Main opens its doors in Columbiana.

Pastries on Main is set to open near the end of south Main Street in Columbiana and its owner Carol Dotson is ready to bring her multiple years of experience to the table.

“I’ve been baking since I was a wee little lass,” Dotson said.

Pastries on Main will offer drinks as well as a variety of baked goods.

“(We’ll have) everything sweet—desserts, cakes, French pastries, croissants and donuts—both glazed and cake—cookies, bars (and) cobblers—just about anything anybody could want,” she said.

Dotson recently returned to Alabama after living abroad for many years and the idea for the business came from her boyfriend who owns the building.

“The first thing he wanted me to do when I got back and we reconnected was ‘Please make me one of your apple pies,’” she said.

One night during the city’s Music on Main event, he told her she should open up a bakery and the idea continued to develop from there.

“I’ve worked hard all my life—a very entrepreneurial person and I started my first business at 23,” she said. “I need something to do at the age of retirement, but I don’t really ever want to retire. (This is) a passion project and something I’ll just love.”

Pastries on Main will feature an array of baked goods for customers to select from day-to-day as well as the ability for residents to place orders.

“What I’ll do is take orders for cakes and pies and anything special if someone wants,” she said. “I can make almost anything.”

Dotson said she plans for the business to have a website and to offer curbside pickup with hopes of getting to the point where she can one day offer delivery.

“Everybody around has told me like ‘Are you going to carry this? Do you have that? Do you know how to make this? Do you know how to make that,’” Dotson said. “If there’s something people want, I’ll do it.”

Dotson expressed she appreciates the building aesthetics and location and that she wants to use them in aiding the atmosphere of her business.

“I want it to be a very nostalgic place,” she said. “I want it to be like you’re going into grandma’s or you see little kids with their faces planted on the window outside.”

Dotson said she plans to open early a few days a week around 7 a.m. and that the bakery will also offer coffee, lattes and cappuccinos.

Pastries on Main is tentatively planned to open by Friday, Jan. 19 and Dotson said she definitely plans to open by the end of the January.