Old Bakery and Emporium

This isn’t a bakery, but an old former bakery. Now isn’t an emporium where you can find handmade arts and crafts that range from jewelry to paintings. Everything handcrafted by senior citizens.
It’s located within eye sight of the Texas Capitol.
I walked in on my stroll to visit the Capitol. Immediately I was welcomed by an older, sweet lady. She was the one who explained that everything was hand crafted by senior citizens… I’m sure it’s true, she was way too nice to lie. Everything seemed reasonably priced, but I didn’t buy anything, not that I didn’t plan on it, there just wasn’t anything that struck my fantsy.

What a cute place to shop for gifts. Unique hand made items at really ridiculously low prices. I volunteer here but I also shop here. Great gifts for almost anyone and guaranteed they won’t already have one just like it.

Well first off, it’s not a bakery, so don’t get your hopes up like I did. They should at least sell some baked items and coffee, because maybe more people would drop in.
It’s sort of an emporium, I guess, because there’s a substantial two-​level gift shop downstairs with a lot of handmade items.
But it’s definitely an art gallery, which is why I visited, to see an art professor’s show and hear her talk about her paintings. Admission was free and the building is beautiful and historical, so if you’re wandering downtown and are in the mood, you can check it out. Most everything is for sale and reasonably priced. Better than SoCo prices.
Free parking is limited to a tiny lot next to the building, but there is metered street parking nearby.

A former bakery and store just steps from the capitol building in Austin I was fortunate to happedn upon Old Bakery and Emporium during the first days of a new juried exhibit, the prices too good to pass up resulting in another eclectic original piece for my collection. Largely featuring kitschy craft downstairs with the fine arts displayed on the second floor the prices at Old Bakery rival some of the spots in Asheville for original art and with a selective eye there are some great deals to be found.

The Old Bakery used to have a lovely lunch room but the friendly women at the front cdesk told me it has been closed for a couple of years. Still it was worth a visit to the calm atmosphere in this historic building. It is a nice respite from the busy city streets in front of the Capital Building. Hand crafted regional gifts from cards, clothing to photos and jewelry are available. An excellent place for souvenirs for the many international and national visitors. Access by Bus and car; parking.

It was really hot in here. Poor Austin was experiecing 45 degree weather in December and everyone thought the ice age was coming. They had the heat so high in here it was uncomfortable.
Now the building is old and that is what brought me in here. I think it use to be a Bakery in the late 1800’s. The lady at the counter really didn’t give me any info. She was more concerned with me signing the book so they knew where I came from. She also told me that all of the art there was made by people over 50.
Now I thought it was cool that everything in there was made by people over 50 but it reminded me of being a kid when our school would have an art fair and the seniors would buy a table and sell us kids stuff for our parents. The stuff was okay. I almost bought my little girl a cute lady bug but then realized the metal legs were a little sharp and might hurt her.
While I was walking around another lady walked in after me and she got the royal treatment from the lady behind the counter. She was telling her history and places to go around Austin. I guess you can say I was a little bitter that I got no love like that.
There is a little museum upstairs but it is not great. I think I added a few pictures of the creepy baby in the crib from the 1800’s. I walked in here hoping to learn more history but walked away knowing less then when I walked in!

There is only one problem with this place. It is only open Monday through Friday and the hours are 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. which means unless I have a day off, I can’t shop there. This has to hurt business as most productive members of society with money to spend usually work for a living.
They no longer serve food at the Old Bakery and Emporium which was fine with me as I had just finished eating lunch (on a day off from work) with a friend at the Hickory Grille which is a few blocks away.
Nothing in the shop, not one single thing, is mass produced. Everything is hand crafted and expertly crafted at that! The prices are extremely reasonable especially since the items display very impressive workmanship.
Great place to buy gifts too. If you have ever gone shopping for a gift and just couldn’t find anything appropriate for a friend or relative, I recommend popping into the Old Bakery and Emporium if you can possibly get there Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.

I think I am allergic to those plastic canvas yarn decorations. Truly, I cringe everything I see them.
I really appreciate that there is a place like this for seniors to be able to do what they love to do (crafty stuff) and perhaps earn a few dollars in the process.
But where are the talented grandmas in Austin hiding? Are they selling their wares on Etsy instead?
Obviously, the merchandise in this store was not what I was picturing before I came in. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few treasures to be found here, but really, it’s the kind of stuff that would warm the cockles of your heart if YOUR OWN grandma made it for you with love. But not stuff you’d be bothered buying from someone else.

Ahmm, there is nothing much here other than cute old ladies. This place used to be a bakery long time ago, i think it was 1876. And now there is no bakery but just two floors of stuff made my senior citizens.
I do appreciate their work, but there is nothing i could buy. They had beaded chains, woolen clothing for kids and Christmas decorations in June??? I had to walk out in a few minutes. But i did hear that some couples get married in the balcony of that historic building, such that they get the Capitol building as the background.
There you go! Something you guys might want to do in this place? or just go across the street and take the picture in the real capitol? :D
–Smriti

I want to like this place — really, I do. This restaurant and gift shop run out of a historic building right near the Capitol just oozes «old timey Austin.» But it is So Not Me. Pretty much everything on the two large floors of merchandise looks like something that somebody’s grandmother made at her retirement home arts & crafts session. I’m sorry that is so un-​PC of me, but that’s really the only way to explain it. Lots of cutesy crocheted stuff, very simple stained glass figurines, an assortment of paintings of windmills and bluebonnets, even sweatshirts with plaid hearts and stuff sewn on them. It gave me flashbacks to those garage sales where you pull up to the curb and instantly know there’s no need to get out of the car. You know the ones. There’s even a large room of Christmas stuff with a bent up, laser-​printed paper sign out front that says, «Visit our year-​round Christmas room!»
There is also a little café in the back of the store. As I was walking back there, I made a little bet with myself that they sold pimento cheese sandwiches. Sure enough, there they were, right on the menu. It is pretty cheap — $ 3.70 for a sandwich and either a soup or a bag of chips — but I wasn’t really brave enough to try it. They also had a homemade looking cake under a glass dome and some cookies on paper plates. Just like at grandma’s. I think some people might like it for the nostalgia factor — perhaps it would remind them of spending time with their own grandma. But my grandma ran a Chinese laundry in Detroit and her idea of comfort food usually involved rice, not pimento cheese, so the nostalgia is kind of lost on me.
I guess this place must be subsidized somehow by the City of Austin, because there is no way that they could sell enough here to pay the rent on this prime piece of real estate. I don’t begrudge this little piece of old Austin their space, but I wouldn’t really shop here, either.