Recently married, Charlie and Kimberly Johnson have proven to be a solid team as they renovated their space on King Street for over 5 months and created a unique gallery with cupcakes and canvases.
What inspired you to open up Gimme Some Sugar?
Kimberly used to live in south Florida and she had a baking cottage industry for 12 years It was very successful and mostly through word of mouth.
I’ve lived up here for 32 years and we got together and had a long distance relationship. One day after going back to south Florida, she was like why am I living here and moved up here last year.
We knew we wanted to do something that involved both the cupcakes and my photography canvases. We were looking for properties and were trying to figure out where to do this. Being a local in town I knew the Art Walks were something I wanted to be a part of.
We leased this property in November. Hurricane Matthew had taken it out, and the building which was built in 1923 was refurbished in 3 sections. So there is an art gallery next door and next to that is the Bokeh Gallery, so we thought we’d do a cupcake and canvas gallery.
How did you find this location?
We saw this place was up for lease and tried calling the realty company on the sign in the window but there was never an answer and the mailbox was full. Finally, the sign changed one day and Kimberly took a picture of it and put the phone in my face and said: “here call now”. I called and they answered, which was wonderful news and we had the property leased within two weeks.
The space was a shell, we had to create it. Trying to find contractors was difficult, we went through 39 contractors before we finally got somebody. Since we had the space leased, we decided to get started, so we painted the wall to look like bricks. There are 1821 bricks.
I notice the furniture is for sale in here, who made it?
Yes, we did. We got married in December, and while still engaged, we built these benches and tables for our wedding. It was definitely premarital counseling for us, we built 54 of these together. The wall of bricks pretty much solidified the relationship.
When did you get moving on renovations?
We found a contractor in February. He wanted to do the project, but he said he never did commercial before. We said we’ve never done retail, so let’s do it. He did a wonderful job! We are very pleased.
Have you done any Art Walks?
From November to February we had some presence from Art walk. People would walk through and watch us paint the brick wall. Every month regulars would come back and check on our progress.
In April, the plumbers were here during Art Walk, to cut into the concrete slab and install our sump pump and grease trap. This put us outside in front for the event. During that time, the plumbers had uncovered a horseshoe. They came out and gave it to us, we took it as a sign. that this location and idea was meant the right choice. We have it hung up so everyone can see it as they walk in.
We officially opened May 4th on the day of Art Walk. It was wonderful, we had a lot of traffic. It feels like a block party, we put benches out, Bokeh had a band. It’s really a nice event!
How did you come with the name of the gallery?
One of the things that brought us together is that Kimberly has donkeys and one is mammoth. Her name is Sugar, so we wanted to incorporate her name into the gallery’s name.
We’ve heard about cupcakes, tell me about the art side of the gallery?
We are two separate businesses, Gimme Some Sugar is the bakery and Charlies Angles is my photography on canvas.
My artwork is mostly local stuff. Nothing is digitally enhanced with the exception of black and white. I love sunrise so I am always trying to capture it.
The good news is the art is selling. It’s priced well and people can take a piece of St. Augustine home with them.
Does Kimberly do custom cakes?
Kimberly did custom cakes for a long time, with this endeavor she wanted to get out of that and do grab and go. We do 6 and 8-inch cakes. She rotates the type of cake weekly. Last week was coconut, the week before that was lemon blueberry.
Do you have a standard menu all the time?
Yes, we always have
Triple Chocolate which is our number one seller, French Vanilla, Key Lime (which is my favorite)
Carrot Cake and Red Velvet
We also have a gluten-free option.
Are you creating any special recipes?
We do like to create new recipes and product. For example, today we have strawberry and s’mores. We have a datil pepper chocolate cupcake and will continue to introduce new flavors.
We also do a peanut roca, which is toffee with peanuts and chocolate. We have different fudges, one includes datil pepper. We also do a datil pepper peanut brittle, it ends with a little heat but it’s not much.
What would your customer say they love most?
They love the space, the feel of the space and the artwork.
Do you have something you absolutely love baking?
I actually love decorating the cupcakes. The creativity is what I enjoy the most.
In addition to cupcakes, candies and artwork, candies, we also have coffee. I’m a huge coffee fan, so we make espresso, lattes, and cappuccinos. I use a dark Ethiopian coffee from Growers Alliance.
Gimme Some Sugar is located at 137 King Street, St Augustine FL 32084
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