Brick & Bond Spotlight: Windy City Sweets & Treats
Windy City Sweets & Treats combines high-quality ingredients with artisanal flair to create amazing desserts. Discover how Brick & Bond partners with high-quality businesses like this to help foster amazing neighborhoods.
At Brick & Bond, our passion is helping to create thriving neighborhoods that provide a setting where lives can be lived well. It’s a lofty vision, but it’s built upon simple principles and identifying the right businesses to partner with. One of those businesses is Windy City Sweets & Treats, which we’re welcoming to a new location at the Compass at Centennial Hills.
So who is Windy City Sweets & Treats? And how will they contribute to the growth and flourishing of the district?
From Kitchen to Community
The business was launched from the kitchen of Lisa Dodds, a Wyoming native, in the summer of 2016. Though the venture was new, the inspiration stretched back to her childhood.
“Baking, for me, is a heartfelt tradition rooted and cherished in holiday memories spent alongside my mother in the kitchen. I have always loved to bake and cook and innovate food through my culinary creativity,” she explains.
That love translated into cookies, cakes, and other baked goods that her customers couldn’t get enough of. Orders grew. In 2020, Lisa moved into a commercial kitchen in a local brewery, where she filled custom orders while baking fresh pretzels for brewery customers. By this time, she had her sights set on opening her own store.
But then came the pandemic. There was a silver lining to this. Business picked up as people stayed at home and ordered more comfort food. However, plans to expand to a storefront were delayed. The opportunity finally came in the summer of 2021, when Windy City Sweets & Treats opened its doors on West Collins Drive.
The response has been enthusiastic. People rave about their freshly baked donuts, croissants, cookies, and other treats, including gluten-free options. Browse their reviews and you’ll find plenty of comments like this one: “Best thing I’ve ever eaten. Sorry Grandma.” They’ve earned recognition as Casper’s best bakery and grown to the point where they’re ready to expand.
New Opportunity
This is where Brick & Bond enters the picture. We’ve been cultivating a new community hub at The Compass at Centennial Hills. It’s a project that allows us to give concrete form to the key principles that underlie our development philosophy.
Specifically, we’re creating an area where housing is situated near to shopping, professional services, and venues where people can connect. That last element is particularly important. We need what sociologist Ray Oldenburg named “third places,” spaces where we can gather informally and regularly. Over time, they help foster the social links that build community.
And what better place to gather with friends than at a bakery over a mouth-watering pastry and a cup of coffee? The vision of people coming together to enjoy her creations is a central aspect of Lisa’s vision for Windy City Sweets & Treats’ new location.
“I’m hoping to create a modern, organic feel that is welcoming and inviting…I would love it to become a place where neighbors gather, friendships form, and memories are made,” she told us.
“Community” is a theme you’ll hear a lot when Lisa talks about her business. She describes sharing her deep love of food with her community as one of the most rewarding aspects of her work. It’s also a theme you’ll hear a lot in conversation with any of us at Brick & Bond. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about: building the dynamic districts where healthy communities can form and thrive.
To learn more about Windy City Sweets & Treats, including when and where you can try some of Lisa’s acclaimed creations for yourself, please visit their website.
