Rocket Bakery Takes Off With More Stores, Expansion

Jeff and Julia Postlewait are no longer sleepless in the Valley.

When they opened the Rocket Bakery in Millwood back in 1992, the couple was up at 1 a.m. to bake muffins and scones, brewing coffee at 5 a.m., frothing lattes from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., then doing the book work, sweeping up and whatever else needed to be done before tumbling into bed in the basement of his parents’ home.

“We basically set a cot up in the back,” Julia said.

Now the Postlewaits have three more stores, but thanks to a growing staff they’re able to spend more time scouting for new locations than shoveling coffee grounds.

They’re expanding the original 1,265-square-foot Rocket Bakery at 3315 N. Argonne in Millwood, known for its limited seating, eclectic mix of wooden furniture and funky mirrors and signs. The expansion will bump up their 10-seat coffee bar to a shop seating 40 people.

“People asked every day for six years when we were going to have more seating,” Jeff said.

It’s a move they say they have to make to position themselves against Starbucks, the national coffee chain that is building its first Valley store at Trent and Argonne, just up the road from the Rocket. The new Starbucks is expected to open in about six months.

In March, the Postlewaits will add 650 square feet to their Millwood store by taking over space now occupied by the Window Box, a gift shop immediately south of the Rocket. The Window Box, meanwhile, is moving to the Brambleberry Cottage and Tea Shoppe at 122 N. Argonne.

The Postlewaits plan on knocking out an additional window on the bakery’s north wall, extending the window coffee bar with stools all the way to the back of the building and building a patio out back. Tables will replace the present baking area, which will occupy part of the present gift shop next door. There will also be a fireplace surrounded by big, overstuffed chairs in the front. The project should be completed in two months.

“It will still be tiny,” Jeff Postlewait said. “It will be cozy.”

Starbucks now has six stores in Spokane. The new, 1,500-square-foot Valley store will be part of a shopping center next to Albertson’s grocery store. It will seat at least 30 people.

Will there be competition?

“I’d like to believe not,” said Al Boschma, head of Starbucks’ Spokane district office. “Rocket has much more of a bakery-type focus. We focus on coffee.”

Starbucks chose its Valley site not because of its proximity to the Rocket, Boschma said, but because that’s where customers told the company they wanted a new Starbucks.

The Postlewaits said the two stores are on different levels.

“They have a lot more money for marketing,” Julia said. “We can’t compete like they can, so we’ll do things differently.”

The Rocket will continue to focus on offering fresh-baked pastries and a homey, relaxed atmosphere, she said. And while Starbucks - which has promised to have 2,000 stores in North America by the year 2000 - is famous for its expansion, the Rocket is growing, too.

Sales have quadrupled since the Postlewaits, both Valley natives, set up shop six years ago.

The staff has increased from just the two of them to 40 employees serving up “velvet foam”-capped cappuccinos and lattes in all four stores. They now sell their confections at Huckleberry’s Fresh Market and deliver to other businesses in town.

And, yes, they’ve even baked for Starbucks.

The Postlewaits have looked at locations in Lewiston and Walla Walla. A former employee is begging them to open a Rocket Bakery in Pullman.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo