There’s a little bit of everything in the Shops at Cross Creek, a new complex at 1725 Waldens Creek Road. Patrons will find a bakery, pizza place, fresh market and real estate office in the building owned by Lynn, Peggy, Josh, and Lea Cole.
“Two years ago, my husband and his parents decided to build this,” said Lea. “They had property here and saw that it was a growing area, very well-traveled by tourists with cabins nearby.”
StoneHouse Pizza was the first in the complex to open, owned by a cousin of the Coles, offering subs, salads “and other good stuff,” according to its brochure. Long time family friends Tony and Andrea Whaley opened Whaley’s Fresh Market.
“People are raving about it,” Lea said. “They love not having to go into town … .”
“The business has exceeded our expectations,” said Lea, who studied interior design at the University of Tennessee before transferring to Walters State Community College in Sevierville, where she got a degree in business.
Lea serves as both the Wildflower Bake Shop’s buyer and baker, while her 25-year-old husband, Josh, handles the business side of the company.
“I’ve always been around cooking in my family,” she said. “I used to make “potions’ in the bathroom when I was little; my mother would bring me flour and oatmeal. I’m still into design, so I’ve tried to mesh the two together.”
Guests can peruse various gifts, such as baby clothes, stationery and jewelry created by Lea on one side of the store, and freshly baked artisan breads and pastries at its other end.
“A lot of locals are excited to see us here. It’s all the things they need bread, milk, dessert in one spot.”
Barnes Real Estate, which has served the Smoky Mountains since 1969, moved its office from the Parkway in Pigeon Forge to the new complex.
The fifth and last vacancy has been rented, Lea said, although it will be some time before its opening. Plans for the shop are still in the works.
