Kids who started selling baked goods at farmers markets open Centerville storefront
The Brownbrook Market in Centerville isn’t your average storefront. It’s a kids-owned business.
The baked goods store and artisan craft space is operated by 13-year-old Joshua Westbrook and his 10-year-old sister, Christi, with the help of their family.
Joshua, a seventh grader at Feagin Middle, is the customer service manager.
“We get to help people,” Joshua said. “We get to make money. We get to taste everything. And mostly, this will prepare me for the future.”
Christi, a fifth grader at Lake Joy Elementary, is the IT manager who designed the logo and helps her mom with social media.
“I just like the way that people are amazed that kids are doing this … and I also like being able to earn money and know what it’s like to work,” Christi said. “And tasting everything.”
Their business but a family affair
Their mom, Kennethia, does their baking at the Mill Hill Bakers Collective in Macon and helps run the storefront.
“This is a great opportunity for the kids,” she said. “I’ve seen them growing by leaps and bounds.”
Their father, Marquis, also the head football coach at Warner Robins High, is their logistics manager — responsible for all the heavy lifting when setting up.
“I think it’s a lot more than I imagined,” he said. “It’s taken off, and the idea started from the lemonade stand, the kids wanted one. Kennethia, she was very influential on them, you know, learning how to work and getting some type of work ethic about themselves so she really just took it and ran with it … It’s mind blowing the way it’s taken off.”
Right off the top, 10% of what the kids make through their business goes to their college fund and another 10% to charity or to other causes, like their March book drive to help college students pay for textbooks.
When their business does well, they also get some spending money.
“I learned how to be a better salesman and how to talk to people,” Josh said.
Christi added, “When I was like 7 or 8, whenever I got money, I’d just go and spend it. But I think I’ve learned that you have to save money. I’ve also learned how to communicate with people better and I’ve also learned just how money works in general.”
Better than a lemonade stand
Ever since Joshua was 5, he wanted to start a lemonade stand, and his sister jumped on that bandwagon.
When the family was at home sheltering in place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a plan for the kids to have a baked good business began to take shape.
They started with the Wesleyan Market in the summer of 2021 and other pop-up events. They next began hosting pop-up events inside the Houston County Galleria.
Difficulty in finding locations to showcase their baked goods led to hosting the pop-up events in the mall and to opening the storefront at 100 North Houston Lake Blvd., Suite F, in late January.
The storefront
At the storefront, customers can find brownie bars, cookie bars, homemade ice cream sandwiches and cakecups, cake in a cup that’s eaten with a spoon. They offer sugar-free and gluten-free options and free samples of their baked goods.
A bowl of fortune cookies with Bible verses inside rests on the front counter.
“Those are free and all of them have a positive word,” Kennethia said. “We hope somebody who opens it will have a bright day.”
They also sell artisan teas that Josh blends.
Additionally, the Brownbrook Market offers space for artisan businesses to display their wares either through a monthly rental fee or a percentage of revenues.
In the artisan space, a woman’s handcrafted body butter and her daughter’s handcrafted nail polish are for sale. Another woman’ peach cobbler mix can be purchased, while the kids’ grandmother offers up handcrafted flower wreaths.
The storefront is open Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The storefront will be closed March 27 for spring break and reopen April 7. Orders can be placed online and delivery is offered through DoorDash.
