It’s been roughly a decade since a gift idea became much more.
Brandi Robertson was living in California at the time, where she and her husband were invited to a Valentine’s Day party.
She knew she wanted to bring something sweet and special to the party, and she’d dabbled in baking before. But this time, she wanted to level up.
“I was more of a cupcake and brownie kind of a mom, but I really wanted to find something that was a little more challenging,” she recalled. “I just let my intimidation go, and I tried it.”
A decade and plenty of trial and error later, people will soon be grabbing Robertson’s now-perfected caramels (and more sweets) at a brand new storefront. Robertson’s caramel and chocolate shop, Lorellie’s, will unveil its first-ever standalone brick-and-mortar shop in Overland Park in either March or April.
Lorellie’s is coming to 8932 W. 95th St.
- The shop is opening in a space just off 95th Street and Antioch Road, near Taco Via and the Sherwin-Williams paint store.
- Previously, the space was occupied by healthy eatery Bonsai Bowl.
- Once it opens, regular hours at Lorellie’s will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Lorellie’s will offer caramels, chocolates, and more
Caramels will be the star of the show at the new shop. Particularly sea salt caramels, both classic and chocolate-dipped, both of which Robertson said are her current best sellers.
Customers will also be able to grab other treats, some of which will include caramel popcorn, peanut butter balls, brittle, and even some baked goods like cookies and seasonal pies.
The shop’s name, Lorellie’s, is a blend of two important women in Robertson’s life: the “matriarchs” of her family. Her late mother-in-law’s first name was Loralee, and her mother’s first name is Ellie.
The new Overland Park space will be part kitchen, part production floor and part retail shop. Behind the scenes, Robertson is carving out a dedicated production room in the back for trimming and packaging treats once they’re made.
Once construction wraps up, Robertson said she hopes the end result is a warm, welcoming space for families, with a “cozy kitchen feel.” Shelving along the wall will hold rows of colorful ribbons organized by season, ready to wrap gifts in customers’ favorite colors.
In addition to candy, the shop will carry some small gifts — things like elegant watercolor paint books, cookbooks and aprons.
Lorellie’s already has an established JoCo presence
That initial homemade batch of caramels back in California, Robertson said, had been “OK” — but she knew she could do better. Thus, a decade of tweaking and testing ensued, with plenty of thrown-out pans of caramel as Robertson tinkered with temperature and texture.
She started by experimenting with her grandmother’s caramel recipe, which served as more of a caramel topping, and painstakingly transformed it into more of a firm, smooth candy.
After Robertson and her family eventually moved from California back to Kansas City, she found an opportunity inside the Painted Tree Boutique in Overland Park. Lorellie’s opened a small booth there in February 2022. (That booth will remain open, in addition to the new storefront.)
She hadn’t necessarily planned on opening a brick-and-mortar store, she said, but demand pushed the idea forward. The Painted Tree booth had been racking up large orders for events like weddings and graduations, and products were selling out.
Then, customers started asking for online ordering, which Kansas law wouldn’t allow as long as Robertson was producing caramels solely out of her home kitchen. People began asking if she’d open a brick-and-mortar shop, and eventually she thought, why not?
“It just kind of evolved into that,” she said. “It was totally organic.”
Now that those customers’ wishes are coming true, Robertson said, they haven’t been shy about expressing their excitement about it. That’s exciting to Robertson too, and it makes things feel all that much more official.
“The feedback that I get from everybody (is that) they’re really excited that it’s finally happening,” she said. “People have known about me for almost four years now. So for it to finally be legitimized in a commercial kitchen — I feel like it just validates everything.”
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