Saturday Business Spotlight: Baking on Route 66: Missy’s Sweet Shoppe
Celebrates Three Years
[July 12, 2025] The
scent of cinnamon rolls and sourdough drifts through downtown Atlanta,
Illinois, as visitors peer through the windows of Missy’s Sweet Shoppe.
Inside, the display case glows with rows of cookies, bars, and cupcakes,
each one handmade by Missy Gaither herself.
For three years,
Gaither has run her family bakery out of the old Palm’s Grill Café
building, transforming the historic diner into a small-town hub for
sweet tooths and travelers alike.
“To start with, I started making cakes, and then it kind of went into
cupcakes,” she said. “Kind of go with the trend… and then the trend is,
these days, more cookies.”
Long before she
opened the shop on June 10, 2022, a date that also happens to be her
birthday, Gaither baked out of her home. “It started as a hobby. Word of
mouth kind of just grew it,” she said. “I was making so many deliveries,
so it was nice just to get it into one spot.”
Gaither is a self-taught baker, first picking up skills as a teenager
working at Bonanza. “That’s where my roots started in baking,” she said.
“I was self-taught.” Her background also includes two decades working in
accounting and 19 years in human resources at State Farm. She states
that the business experience helps her manage everything behind the
scenes. She says she is, “Trying to maintain a lot of hats,” she said.
“Doing the accounting part of it, advertising, baking… just trying to
juggle it all.”
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She does it with
help from her close-knit family. “It’s family. My son, Aiden, he’s a
senior at ISU, and my daughter, Maggie, she just graduated high school,
and my aunt Holly, she volunteers and helps. My husband, he fixes
things,” she said. But when it comes to baking, she’s the only one
behind the counter. “Yes. I bake it all myself.”
Even with all that responsibility, Missy keeps her focus steady and her
goals simple. “I plan on doing this for a while,” she said. “It’s hard
work, you know. I’m always on my feet.”
The bakery marked its anniversary with a customer appreciation week:
“We’re doing daily specials, and we are giving away a free slice of cake
[with] purchase, and we’re doing drawings,” she said. “More customer
appreciation.”
Gaither credits her mother for inspiring her love of food service. “I
would say her work ethic definitely inspired me. I definitely took after
her,” she said. “She was definitely a good, hard worker.”
The Atlanta
community has been supportive, and tourists from around the globe have
found their way to Gaither via Route 66. “They’ve been very welcoming,”
Gaither said. “It’s fun to see all the tourists come through and where
they’re from, other countries.”
A guestbook at the counter keeps track of visitors, many of whom are
just passing through. “They’re coming [down] Route 66, and I’m on their
path,” she said.
When asked what she would tell herself three years ago before opening
the shop, Gaither said, “Make a better business plan. Take your time.
Set some goals.” Still, she has no regrets. “I have learned new
techniques… as far as decorating and stuff like that.”
And most of all,
she’s thankful. “The customers, you know, are my backbone. A lot of
them, they’ve become friends,” she said. “I wouldn’t be here without
them. I just appreciate all of their support, from all over, from
Lincoln, Atlanta, McLean, Bloomington, Springfield…people drive from
Decatur.”
[Sophia Larimore] |
