Lynchburg Business

Walls Bakery: A Sweet Family Legacy

Issue: April 2010 by Mark A. Davis in Business Profiles, Inside The Magazine

Baking a birthday cake for the President is a special order and George Walls, owner of Walls Bakery, was up for the challenge when he was asked to bake a cake for then-President Ronald Reagan’s birthday. But just how that even came to pass is another story.

“The answer is word-of-mouth, the best method of advertising,” Walls stated. “People tasted our bakery items and the word spread all the way to the President.”

Walls and his wife, Chris, opened the first Walls Bakery in Waldorf, Maryland, in 1968, just 21 miles from the capitol. After operating multiple small locations around town, they finally settled on a larger place to centralize their efforts and an opportunity struck. The business location was once a tourist stop/restaurant called the “Wigwam,” a historic landmark in the area. The building, shaped like a tee-pee, was at one time everything from a nightclub and Go-Go dance bar to a casino, complete with beer, cigarette smoke and rows of slot machines.

In the “good old days” the restaurant also had live entertainment. Recording star Brenda Lee entertained patrons while they dined on fried oysters and dropped quarters into the one-armed bandits in the back room. But times change, and when the casino closed, the building was up for sale. George and Christa Walls saw it as the perfect location for a bakery and gift shop. To this day, they continue the American Indian theme by selling Moccasins, leather goods, steer heads, Alpaca rugs and even jackalopes, but their real passion is baking.

Fast forward a couple of decades and Walls Bakery also now resides in Lynchburg. No, it’s not a franchise, just a family business that has expanded to the Lynchburg area because Walls simply couldn’t retire to his 140-acre farm in Rustburg, and stop baking. The family will be quick to tell you that, “It’s in his blood.” And that drive means the goodies will keep flowing out of the little bakery on the corner of Timberlake and Leesville.

The best-selling item in the bakery is, by far, the éclair. This delectable confection is said to be a famous pastry invented by a chef for French royalty in the 17^th century, although no one can pinpoint the exact origin of the delicious dessert. It’s what has made Walls Bakery famous in Waldorf and it’s catching on right here in Lynchburg.

“It’s our biggest selling item by far…and our donuts, of course,” Walls’ granddaughter Christine Herbert said. “We still use the same recipe that granddad perfected years ago when he and mom opened the bakery in Maryland. We make it in small batches so we can control the quality. It takes more than 45 minutes for each batch of pastry and filling. Everything is made the old-fashioned way.”

Traditionally speaking, the location of Walls Bakery has been difficult one for bakeries to succeed at; both Dunkin’ Donuts and Don’s Bakery came and went there after a few years. But Walls felt that it is the ideal location for his bakery.

“Granddad decided to rent the store as soon as he saw it. Someone told him about the vacant place, so he checked it out and decided that it was perfect,” Herbert said. “After weeks of scrubbing and modifying the store, the sign went up and we opened our doors.”

These days, the store is operated by Herbert and two of Walls’ other granddaughters, Selina Crawford and Teresa Walls. Between them they share the long hours of baking pastries and managing the store, but their grandfather is still active in the process.

“It’s a family business. Granddad, who is 81 years old, still comes into the store from time to time to show us even more ways to perfect our creations. He always reminds us that if you treat the customer right and make a good quality product, the customers will be back,” Herbert said.

So far, getting repeat customers hasn’t been a problem. With days that begin in the pre-dawn hours for the three managers, shelves are full at 5:30 a.m. but they usually don’t stay that way.

“Saturday is our busiest day,” Herbert said. “We have special orders for churches that have to be filled, and our customers are here when we open at 6. Thomas Road Baptist Church routinely buys fresh donuts and éclairs from us and we often provide our pastries to Lynchburg hospitals. ”

As for that location that many past businesses found so worrisome, for Walls Bakery, it’s been nothing but a positive, according to Herbert.

“We’ve only been open here since September 2009, but the store has more than lived up to our expectations,” she said. “Being right across the street from Heritage High School doesn’t hurt either. There are some afternoons that the kids are lined up outside the building for our freshly baked donuts, chocolate éclairs and cinnamon buns.”

It’s been more than 40 years now since the Walls first opened their Maryland bakery and though the new Lynchburg location signifies a new era for the small business, if the Walls’ granddaughters are any proof, it’s safe to say that Walls Bakery is here to stay.