EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) – A trend of new growth is continuing in downtown Eugene as the area gets ready to welcome several new businesses over the next few months while one has already opened its doors for dessert.
An Ashland couple, Larry and Lisa Oswald have opened up a cupcake shop called Larry’s Cupcake Café on West Park Street downtown, next to the Park Place Building.
The owners moved the business from Ashland to Eugene to be closer to family, but they also say they saw an opportunity to do something different downtown, opening one of the first dessert cafés in the area.
The business focuses on cupcakes for the most part, hand-making more than fifty different styles and flavors of cakes, each one with a unique cream, frosting or food filling.
Larry says they picked downtown Eugene because of how many businesses are also moving to the area.
"It's the location. We knew that it's going through a whole revitalization process and we just wanted to be part of it. We're right opposite the Farmers Market every Saturday and it adds something new to the downtown area and I think that we have a lot of seating now and to present that to the public was just a great idea,” said Larry Oswald, owner of Larry’s Cupcake Café.
Larry says the shop actually has the largest selection of cupcakes available in the entire United States. In true Eugene spirit, the shop also makes a beer cupcake with Ninkasi’s beer.
Other businesses are also springing up downtown. A new Japanese restaurant named Tokyo Tonkatsu just opened its doors on the corner of Broadway Avenue and Charnelton Street.
Soon the Red Wagon Creamery and the people behind the Party Cart food cart will open a new eatery on Broadway Avenue, next to Lazar’s Bazar. Contractors are now working on the future homes of Sizzle Pie and Soubise Bistro as well in the Broadway Commerce Center at the corner Broadway and Willamette Street.
