A new business in the Perry community was welcomed into town with a ceremonial event on Friday.

The Perry Chamber of Commerce went to The Farm Store and Bakery to officially introduce them with a ribbon cutting. Co-Owner Clare Friedrichsen, who operates the bakery with her husband Tony, addressed the audience to highlight that she was persuaded by a friend in Perry for her to open a bakery, after hearing the coffee shop, Perry Perk, was moving out of the location. Clare kicked the idea around for a while, then talked to Tony and the two agreed to bring her baking skills, along with his farming skills. She got emotional discussing how her grandmother was an inspiration for the store.

“She’s gone now, but there’s a lot of pieces of her in this shop. She taught me to cook, growing up to bake and she catered lots of parties. And so, it’s just been fun to incorporate a lot of that into what I’m doing now and share with my kids. I think baking is becoming a lost art and so it’s been fun to pass that along to them and with the community as well to experience a lot of the homebaked goods.”

Clare explained the reason behind the name of The Farm Store and Bakery was that Perry is a large farming community, and they wanted to provide a shop that would pay homage to  that. She illustrated that they will sell meat products at grocery store prices, along with baked goods of scones, cinnamon rolls, and more. Tony admitted that Clare and him are new at owning a business and wants suggestions from the public, but also asks for patience as they figure things out. With that, he detailed that the schedule might vary as well as the menu depending on the demand from the community.

The Farm Store and Bakery will be open on Thursdays through Saturdays from 7am to 4pm.