Restaurant owners buy into Hollister's Old World charm

“We like the Downing Street décor – the old English style,” said Chuck Baum, who, with his wife, Linda, opened Chuck’s Bake Shoppe on March 7 at 12 Downing Street. “We wanted to stay out of Branson’s traffic. We both like the small-town feel.”

“The building brought us here,” added Daniel Piekos, who visited Hollister with his wife, Lisa, for the first time in July before buying Ye English Inn, where the Lion’s Den is located, from Branson Creek developer Glen Patch. “A friend moved up here and saw this. He thought we would be interested.”

The famous customer

The Baums are not new to the bakery business. Chuck Baum grew up helping his father, who was a baker in Baton Rouge, La., before establishing his own bakery in Fayetteville, Ark., in 1971. The Arkansas bakery, located near the University of Arkansas campus, was known for its cakes, petits fours and a famous customer.

“Bill Clinton was a law professor teaching at the University of Arkansas back in the 1970s,” Baum said. “He came into the bakery one time to pick up a cake.”

Later, Hillary Clinton served the bakery’s petits fours at the couple’s wedding. The bakery also delivered cakes to Bill Clinton on his 40th birthday, when he was governor of Arkansas, and on his 47th birthday, when he was traveling through town during his U.S. presidency. Letters of appreciation from the Clintons are displayed in the Hollister bakery.

The Baums, retired after 30 years in the bakery business, moved a year ago to the Hollister area to be closer to their family and a Branson church they were attending regularly. However, this past winter, a vacant storefront on Downing Street caught their attention, a perfect location for a scaled-down version of their Arkansas business. With the services of Kimberling City Plumbing and Joe’s Electric of Springfield, Chuck Baum said they spent about $7,000 to remodel the leased building.

Linda Baum decorates the cakes and petits fours, which remain the specialty at Chuck’s Bake Shoppe. The shop also offers cookies, coffees and gift items. Store hours are 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Saturday.

‘Work in progress’

Four doors north at 24 Downing Street is Ye English Inn, called “a work in progress” by operator Piekos who, with his wife Lisa, owns the business.

The couple from Kissimmee, Fla., fell in love with the Old English architecture of the building and purchased it. They also own a 30,000-square-foot party supply store in Florida.

Ye English Inn was completed as a guest hotel in 1912 by William Johnson, who wanted to attract train passengers who were traveling through Hollister across the street. Piekos said the inn has not been operated as a hotel for the past 10 years, but it has housed a restaurant, tea room and pub by various owners. The Piekoses reopened The Lion’s Den Restaurant, Eleanor’s Tea Room and Jester’s Pub in November 2006.

Ye English Inn on April 13 also will open a new railroad-themed night club/banquet facility called Downing Street Station. The swimming pool in back of the inn has been filled in and replaced with a garden patio, also expected to open in April. With the addition of the night club and garden patio, Piekos said he will have about 700 seats available for dining, meetings and special events. The couple also expects to renovate and open some of the 22 upstairs guest rooms by fall.

“We want to do each room with its own character,” Piekos said.

When all of the buildings’ renovations are complete, Piekos estimates the total cost of the project to be $2.5 million.

Ye English Inn is open year-round. Hours for the restaurant and tea room are 6 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m.–9 p.m. Sunday. The pub is open from 10–1:30 a.m., Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to midnight on Sunday.[[In-content Ad]]