FAMILIES IN BUSINESS
Everything But the Cake A Birthday Place offers everything needed for parties and special occasions
PHOTOS COURTESY OF A BIRTHDAY PLACE
They have thousands of edible images to choose from and can also create custom ones.
BY LAUREN H. DOWDLE For at-home bakers or families getting ready to celebrate a birthday, they’ll find everything they need for the next special occasion at Pelham’s A Birthday Place. As the staff likes to say, customers will find “everything but the cake.” Owner Patricia Papalardo opened the storefront last spring with her nieces Kathryn Esquivel and Allyson McPoland, following decades in the baking industry. Papalardo attended pastry school in the 1980s before working for large corporate companies. That’s where she realized the need at-home bakers had for cake decorating items, especially edible images. So, she decided to start an online business about 15 years ago, and it’s only grown since then. Her niece, Esquivel, began working with her in 2013 to help with the online business. She found herself meeting customers at different places — like around Helena and the Pelham Post Office — to give them their online orders. With the need for a 24 Bham Family March 2021
storefront evident, they decided to open A Birthday Place in Pelham last year. The store opened its doors the same weekend the quarantine started, so the new venture hasn’t come without a few struggles. But overall, Esquivel says they’ve loved being able to bring the store to their community. “Every single day, someone comes in and says they didn’t know we were here,” she says. “I love being able to talk to people face-to-face.” Their customers include everyone from parents looking to create a memorable party for their children to at-home bakers and small bakeries. “There are so many bakers who work from home or have a small bakery and don’t want to order bulk supplies,” Esquivel says. “We can also order for them so they don’t have to have minimum costs.” The store carries everything for cake decorating, including edible images, cake toppers, edible sugars, CONTINUED ON PAGE 25
