May 24, 2022

Twisted Sisters Sweetz is closing its downtown bakery but will continue to do limited custom orders.

Owner Nikki Wallenberg is having a “last shebang” at the shop at 317 S. Phillips Ave. It will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, noon to 6 or 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

“We will have all of our goodies for you to come out and enjoy one last time at the shop,” Wallenberg said in a Facebook post.

Gift certificates and tickets for her popular cookie-decorating classes will be honored, she said.

Wallenberg said she is not renewing her lease for the shop, which she opened with her sister, Dana Johnson, and their mother, Valorie Johnson, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Wallenberg began baking commercially more than a decade ago, and the family formed Twisted Sisters Sweetz in 2013, using rented kitchen space for their signature decorated cookies, custom cakes, cupcakes and other desserts. In the spring of 2020, they took over the former Smallcakes Cupcakery & Creamery space and continued to hold cookie-decorating classes in other locations.

It’s “just becoming more difficult with pricing on everything and difficulty on finding items and such as well as family health stuff,” she said of the reasons for closing the shop. “Timing is key, and unfortunately we opened right on the start of COVID.”

Wallenberg’s sister left the business, and she continued to get occasional help from her mom, “but it was just me.” As a one-woman shop focusing mostly on custom orders, retail hours were limited and sporadic. Hiring help wasn’t an option for her.

“I couldn’t afford to pay someone what they deserved after all the COVID stuff and everything drained my cushion.”

Wallenberg said she’s grateful for customer support.

“Thank you so much for all of your love! You all have been truly amazing. Please come see me one last time.”