Gluten-free bakery rising in redeveloped Samis Grotto Temple in Bellevue

Kickshaws is a bakery that sells gluten-free bagels, breads, cakes and other baked goods. (Courtesy Kickshaws)

A Fredericksburg-based bakery is coming to Richmond’s Northside for its second location.

Kickshaws is aiming to open in late June at The Bellevue, the mixed-use redevelopment of the former Samis Grotto Temple at 4028 MacArthur Ave.

Kickshaws owner Kathy Paz-Craddock said she wanted to expand to Richmond because of the local demand for her company’s baked goods. She said Kickshaws products are popular in Richmond-area stores, and some customers in the local area make the trip to Fredericksburg to shop at the company’s existing location.

“We found we have a pretty strong demand in the Richmond market,” Paz-Craddock said. “I was an art student (at VCU) a million years ago, so I was familiar with Richmond to start with. When we started with wholesaling, the first market we wholesaled to was Ellwood Thompson’s.”

The Bellevue bakery will be a retail space but will also offer counter service dining. Kickshaws is planning to sell a range of breads, bagels, cookies, cakes and more as well as breakfast and lunch sandwiches. It will also offer frozen take-and-bake items.

The bakery is dedicated to gluten-free, vegan and allergen-friendly products. The business was inspired by the dietary challenges faced by Paz-Craddock’s family – she and her son have celiac disease and her daughter is allergic to dairy.

“We say we’re a unicorn in the market. There are very few bakeries and producers who are allergen-free and vegan,” Paz-Craddock said. “We’re very rigorous about researching materials and ingredients so everything is safe for our customers.”

A kickshaw is a small treat, which is Paz-Craddock’s preferred definition of the word that has several meanings.

The Bellevue is the mixed-use redevelopment of the old Samis Grotto Temple in Northside. Kickshaws will join retailers Homme Essentials and Maven Theory in the development. (BizSense file)

Kickshaws entered the Richmond market a couple years ago when it started to wholesale with Ellwood Thompson’s in Carytown and last year landed on shelves at Good Foods Grocery in Bon Air.

At The Bellevue, Kickshaws is joining menswear store Homme Essentials, which plans to open in April, as well as gift shop Maven Theory, which has already opened. The bakery has claimed a 500-square-foot storefront, which was the last remaining commercial space at the development.

Kickshaws originally opened as a grocery store focused on locally produced food in 2014. That store grew to include a restaurant but closed four years later. The company came to focus on baked goods during a stint as a pop-up concept, which preceded the 2020 opening of its current location in Fredericksburg.