How a Candy Apple Business Went From a Home Kitchen to a Counter on Flowery Branch's Main Street

Gwen "Baby" Bell started Baby Bell Candy Apples LLC in 2017. She made the caramel coating from scratch in her home kitchen and worked with her husband, Clarence, selling to neighbors who heard about it by word of mouth. Orders came in from Northeast Georgia Medical Center and the Atlanta Falcons. About four years ago she bought a concession trailer, which let her run the business full time and sell at farmers markets and festivals. She took the next step without signing a lease on her own building. Discover Lake Lanier invited her to set up inside The Porch on Main at 5603 Main Street.

"We love getting to know our regulars better and serving them on a daily basis without having to invest in our own brick-and-mortar," Bell told Georgia Trend for its October 2026 issue.

That sentence explains what has changed on Main Street over the past year. The Porch looks like a visitor center from the sidewalk. Inside, it works as a step between a pop-up tent and a storefront of your own, and several of downtown's newest businesses are using it that way.

A Visitor Center That Also Hosts Vendors

Discover Lake Lanier is Hall County's official destination-marketing organization. It is a private nonprofit with a volunteer board, and most of its funding comes from hotel and motel occupancy taxes. When it needed a new home for its visitor information center, it chose a 100-year-old building on Main Street that had held a series of retailers. Many people still know it as the old Southern Grace building. When the Gainesville Times photographed it on Oct. 21, 2025, it was being renovated to hold a welcome center, butcher shop, wine bar and store.

It opened in November 2025. Discover Lake Lanier Vice President Madison Mahoney describes its purpose in two parts. "This unique setting promotes area tourism while serving as an incubator for local small businesses," she said, adding that the organization's visitor count has risen 380% since it took over the space.

That 380% counts traffic through a visitor center. Some of it comes from people who stop by for a steak or a candy apple and never ask about the lake. The City of Flowery Branch's Main Street business directory supports this, because several businesses list 5603 Main Street as their own address.

All of these businesses share one front door, and each of them would face a much bigger cost to open its own space.

The Path From Trailer to Counter

Baby Bell's history shows how small food businesses in Hall County tend to grow, and where The Porch fits in that growth.

1. Home kitchen, 2017. The LLC is formed, the caramel recipe is perfected, and sales come by word of mouth.
2. Business clients. Orders from Northeast Georgia Medical Center continued through the COVID-19 lockdown. One hospital staffer told Bell, "Please keep delivering to us. You put smiles on people's faces."
3. Concession trailer, about four years ago. Farmers markets and festivals open up a wider area.
4. A counter at The Porch, 2025. She gets daily customers without the cost of a building.

The business is now large enough to show what that fourth step supports. Bell's team includes her daughters Niesha, Shanice, Nesha, Jessica and Dawndria, her son Quan, and her grandchildren Damari and Jace. They buy their apples from Lanier Produce and sell more than 10,000 a year in over 30 flavors. Strawberry Crunch, Key Lime Crunch and Biscoff Cookie Butter are among the signatures, and any of them can be stuffed with the shop's cheesecake filling.

The other tenants appear to be at similar stages. Arpeggio Coffee and Bakery registered with the city in February 2026 and still sends customers to an online ordering page, which is how a bakery works before it has its own café. Haul Star Vintage Exchange calls its space a pop-up. The Gainesville Times photographed owner Noah Dickson in front of the shop on Sept. 2 and reported an expected opening of Sept. 15. That report does not confirm the shop is open now, so check before you go looking for it.

Stars, Flannel & Vintage Weekend Shows Every Stage in One Downtown

On Oct. 22–24, the City of Flowery Branch will turn downtown into a three-day fall market called Stars, Flannel & Vintage Weekend. Look at who is on the schedule and you will see the same model. Most of the makers and vendors run their businesses without a storefront.

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1–7 p.m. The farmers market expands along Railroad Avenue and the pavilion to more than 50 vendors selling produce, baked goods, handmade art and pop-up boutiques. A flower truck will be on site, and live music will play at the Porch. A petting zoo runs from 3–7 p.m. at City Hall, 5410 Pine St.

Friday, Oct. 23, 9 a.m.–9 p.m. Main Street, North Main and Church Street will have coffee, live music, puzzles, a book swap, lawn games and Mahjong. Craft classes at the Depot, 5302 Railroad Ave., include a Fall Candle Pour Workshop with rusted fence at 10:30 a.m., an Autumn Painting Class with Homebody Happiness at 1:30 p.m., and a Handmade Journal Workshop at 5 p.m. Mahjong Birdie hosts Mahjong on Main at 2 p.m., and the Sammy Shepard Band Trio plays Main Street from 4–6 p.m. At dusk, The Parent Trap screens at The AMP, 5603 Mitchell St. A popcorn wagon, New Beginnings Brew and Phoenix Coffee Roasters will be at the amphitheater.

Saturday, Oct. 24, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Mahjong & Mimosas on Main starts at 10 a.m. A pop-up market runs at the pavilion from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Pressed Flower Resin classes meet at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Here is how those businesses operate the rest of the year:

• Homebody Happiness is a husband-and-wife handmade wood décor business whose profile says its home shop is in Flowery Branch.
• rusted fence sells home décor and says on its website that it shows up at Northeast Georgia pop-ups.
• Mahjong Birdie was founded in Gainesville in 2025 by Haley Bower and offers lessons, game nights and events.
• New Beginnings Brew is based in Talmo and serves coffee from a trailer and from a booth inside Pop's Estate & Marketplace.
• Phoenix Roasters roasts at 5225 Bellewood Ct. in Buford and runs its Coffee That Matters café in Duluth.

Each of these businesses is at one of the stages Baby Bell went through. During the festival, the visitor center that gave her a permanent counter is also the stage for Thursday's music.

What Comes After the Shared Building

The next step on the path is a storefront of your own, and downtown currently has few to offer. Bangarang Brews received city approval in 2025 to open a microbrewery at 5205 Railroad Ave., with an owner target of fall 2025 or spring 2026. The brewery's website still says "Visit Us (Soon!)" and "Hours (Eventually)."

The largest change being discussed is still on paper. On March 19, 2026, the City Council approved a predevelopment agreement with Alpharetta-based Penn Hodge Properties for the Old Town Redevelopment Plan. The proposal is a mixed-use building with nearly 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, including space for a restaurant. It would also add 218 public parking spaces on the first level of a deck entered from Church Street and nearly 230 residential units above. A separate 3,000-square-foot restaurant with outdoor seating would sit at the corner of Church and Pine streets, connected to Main Street by a rebuilt breezeway. The agreement covers due diligence, soil and environmental testing, and early architectural and landscape design, expected to take up to 90 days at a cost of about $200,000.

Until new storefronts exist, the shared counters at 5603 Main Street are where downtown adds new businesses. Established neighbors nearby include Antebellum at 5510 Church Street, Better Days By Peyton's Pie Co. at 5609 Main Street Suite C, and Caroline's on Main, which opened in February 2024.

Before You Go

• Check hours before you walk over. Georgia Grown lists The Porch as open daily 10 a.m.–7 p.m., closed major holidays and open later during special events, but that listing is old. The Branch Social's posted schedule is labeled as summer hours, so its fall hours may differ.
• Thursdays have their own market. The Flowery Branch Farmers Market runs 3:30–6:30 p.m. at 5210 Railroad Ave. On Oct. 22 it expands to the festival's 1–7 p.m. hours.
• Register for festival classes ahead of time. The candle, painting, journal, Mahjong and resin sessions all have sign-up links on the city's event page.
• Bring chairs for Friday night. The city asks moviegoers at The AMP to bring lawn chairs and blankets.

If you find yourself on Main Street during Stars, Flannel & Vintage Weekend and start wondering about downtown Flowery Branch's next chapter, from the Old Town plan to the homes a short walk from these shops, Jacklyn Zuniga is happy to talk it through with you, at your pace and with no pressure. Let's Connect.