New bakery Saison, launched by a Crown Heights baker, will open on the corner of Hancock Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard this summer.
Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith
When Sammy Rees was growing up in Boerum Hill, she was already dreaming about the Brooklyn brick and mortar she one day hoped to open. But it wasn’t until many years later during the Covid-19 pandemic that it dawned on her what that business would be: a bakery.
In the coming weeks, she will be opening the doors to Saison, a business born of the pandemic, at 434 Hancock Street, bringing sweet and savory baked goods, retail items, and vintage homewares to the Bed Stuy corner location.
Having grown up loving food and cooking, Rees, who previously did freelance food styling and event work and was the Home Market Editor at Vogue, had long hosted big dinners for friends. But during the first summer of lockdown she had to pivot from hosting and began offering homegrown vegetables, herbs, and flowers from her Crown Heights backyard, along with home baked goods and other treats, in weekly food boxes she handed out to friends.
Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith
Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith
It started out with just a few boxes, but after a month or so of word of mouth, and from sharing the goodies on Instagram, she started getting requests from her wider community, as well as from people she didn’t know. Those requests then started turning into bigger jobs, with people and companies wanting her baking for events, and other brands looking to start partnerships with her.
“I didn’t really have a five-year plan or like this big business model in mind. It was really just because I loved doing it,” she said. “I always knew I wanted to run my own business, open my own shop in Brooklyn someday, and I started to see it all come together in a really natural way that just felt so right.”
Around 2024, with catering and wedding cake orders rolling in, Rees made the call to start the hunt for a brick and mortar space to house her bakery business, which she had named Saison. At the top of her wishlist was for it to be walkable from her apartment, and be in an area with a tight knit community spirit, she said.
Photos via Saison
“I’ve lived in Crown Heights for the past nearly 10 years. I’ve lived in the same apartment on my block, so I’m a creature of comfort and really value community and the neighborhood I live in,” she said.
“I really wanted to be within a community, a neighborhood that values that, and I didn’t really care about being on a busy commercial street, or I wasn’t also too worried about foot traffic, I wanted somewhere that felt like home to me, and this really felt like that.”
After looking at a number of places over the past two years, Rees found the storefront of the mixed-use brick building at the corner of Hancock Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard, which had previously housed Waffle House and is across the street from Natty Garden, and she immediately thought it would be a great home for Saison.
“I absolutely love the space that I’m in, and on a corner, so we have sidewalk seating on both sides, and I think it can be a really wonderful gathering spot for the neighborhood, for the corner, and it’s the perfect space for me to grow into.”
She said the store will have a little bit of everything she loves. There will be a big open kitchen at the rear where she will bake and continue to do event work and weddings. At the front, people can buy baked goods, grab a cup of coffee, and browse a small curated shop that will include pantry items and vintage tableware. There will be outdoor seating for those who want to have their treats on site.
In terms of the menu, Rees said it will “definitely be sweets forward, all-day sort of sweet offerings to indulge, whether you’re here for a coffee in the morning or want to pick up a dessert for somewhere you’re going that evening.” There will be “seasonal, rustic bakes like stone-fruit frangipane cake, blueberry cornmeal muffins, rose banana bread, cakes by the slice,” fleur de sel chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate cherry brownies.
But there will also be savory items, and she said she is excited to get back to her roots with cooking and exploring savory sandwiches and prepared foods. She said more of that will come after she finds her feet post-opening.
Rees has raised $15,875 for the renovation and equipment costs, and is aiming to open in early July.
While she is still hammering out the details for opening hours, she said for the summer she would start by being open Thursday through Sunday and would expand hours in the fall.
Leaving Brooklyn only once to go to school upstate, Rees said she brought back a real appreciation of seasonality and fresh produce, and “being so inspired by nature and trying to find a way to bring that to my city life.”
That love of nature and peaceful outdoor settings will be reflected in the store itself, Rees said. She is working with friends who run interior design firm Studio N & TL to get every detail right in the renovation.
Inspiration comes from the French and English countryside, she said, whose warm colors and textures, as well as timeless materials, will make the space inviting and give it a lived-in feel. “We have these beautiful limestone marble floors that once you step in, I want you to feel like from the ground up that you’re somewhere else, like a little escape from busy Brooklyn life,” she said.
The corner shop in 2021. Photo by Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark
Rees said she wants the space to reflect the world she goes to in her head when she bakes, which is “somewhere warm and inviting, a little nostalgic. I think of being somewhere like in a beautiful, rustic kitchen with the windows open and a field of flowers outside.”
“It’s definitely an escape,” she added.
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