This Food Network-winning cupcake shop has closed its Charlotte location
Goodbye sweet and savory cupcakes. Goodbye cookies, stuffed brownies, cheesecake cups, cake pops, iced cookies, cookie sandwiches and edible cookie dough. Well — in Charlotte, anyway.
We have good news and bad news.
The bad: Cupcrazed Cakery, the Food Network and Yelp favorite, has closed its Charlotte location, effective immediately. The store, near Park Road Shopping Center at 1730 E. Woodlawn Road, Suite H, opened in 2017.
The good: Cupcrazed owner Heather McDonnell is keeping her ownership of the Fort Mill location, which she previously had listed on the market. So you can still get all your favorites at 936 Market Street, Suite 103, in Fort Mill.
McDonnell is known nationally as a winner on The Food Network’s “Rewrapped” and “Cupcake Wars.” Cupcrazed was also named to Yelp’s Top 100 businesses list in the nation in 2016. McDonnell announced in January that she had put the Charlotte store, as well as the flagship Fort Mill shop, on the market.
Although there was great interest, none of the deals were able to come to fruition, McDonnell said.
[Related: 5 places to get a sweet fix]
McDonnell, whose family is planning a move to Charleston, said the daily grind of business ownership led to her decision. The Charlotte store faced challenges based on its physical location, as well as staffing issues. “Finding and retaining employees has been a struggle for us, just like the rest of the food and beverage industry,” McDonnell told CharlotteFive. “Trying to run two locations by myself was too difficult.”
“I’m bummed we couldn’t make it work or find new owners,” McDonnell said in a statement. “But I’m ready to move on to the next phase of my life.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2019 at 6:03 AM with the headline "This Food Network-winning cupcake shop has closed its Charlotte location."