Scarlett’s Cupcakes Closes

After three rewarding yet labor-intensive years operating Scarlett’s Cupcakes at 857 Via de la Paz, owner Susan Payne closed the doors on Thursday, June 26 after accepting an offer she says she could not refuse.

“It’s not a happy feeling or a sad feeling, but we are relieved about it,” Payne told the Post.

Scarlett’s, which specialized in cupcakes baked from scratch, opened in December 2010 on a three-year lease with a two-year option. Payne said they renewed their lease seven months ago and had about 15 months left.

“We felt it was the best thing to do, to take this offer,” she said.

The lease for the new tenant, Acai Nation, started July 1. Payne noted it is affiliated with the same owners as Juice Crafters.

Payne and her husband Andrew Wilson, who have worked nearly 19 years in real estate, moved to the Palisades in 2007 and immediately fell in love with the community. Wilson, who loves his wife’s baking, encouraged her to start a cupcake business after they moved to town.

When she leased the space, it had only one room with no bathroom or kitchen. Payne invested a lot of money on an infrastructure overhaul to get the bakery going.

Payne will now return to working full-time with her husband at their ReMax office in Venice.

“Running a business is very difficult to do,” she said. “It’s not like a yogurt store, where you can open and put in a machine.”

After producing hundreds of cupcakes for end-of-the-school-year celebrations, Payne anticipated another slow summer. There were, however, a few orders Payne had to cancel.

Her last order came from a local man in a panic needing cupcakes for his daughter’s birthday. It came in right when she closed, but Payne offered to bake him two dozen mini cupcakes. Even Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin had requested Scarlett’s cupcakes for his upcoming wedding.

“I said if you need to me to do it, I’ll bake them out of my same oven where I perfected my recipe,” she said. “They said they would talk about it.”

Payne said she’s very appreciative to the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce and her adjacent business neighbors for all the help getting connected with the community. There were several families and customers with whom she grew close.

“It was an honor,” she said. “It was lots and lots of birthday celebrations. Our job was to never say ‘no’ to our customers.”

On the Palisadian-Post Facebook page, supportive comments poured in about Scarlett’s closing:

Sorry to hear that, she was a wonderful person who took pride in the community and always donated to local causes. We need to support our small businesses up here in the Palisades to keep this from happening.

Oh no! Where are we going to get our birthday cakes and cupcakes??… Hoping to see it reborn on the Caruso-revitalized Swarthmore.