When you step into JJ’s Place on Meeting Street, you are immediately met with the hallmark aromas of a bakery filled with fresh breads, pastries and more.
For owners Janice Caldwell and Andrew Reininger, their new West Columbia shop is a dream several years in the making.
JJ’s Place officially opened its doors June 2 at 557 Meeting St., right next door to Brookland United Methodist Church and just east of the popular WECO Bottle & Biergarten. The bakery is currently open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Caldwell and Reininger’s baking prowess is familiar to many in the Midlands, as JJ’s has been a well-known bread vendor at Soda City Market for roughly three years. And while they still plan to sell at Soda City on Saturday mornings, they have now launched a full storefront operation in the two-story brick home at 557 Meeting St. The new space has been under renovation for more than two years, Reininger said, and signage out in front of the bakery as of Thursday morning cheekily announced that the business is “finally” open.
“I feel like it’s been going really great,” Reininger said of the nascent days of the new storefront. “The first week, we were doing more than we expected. There’s a new flow, so we are trying to figure out which things sell best at the store, which may not be the same things that sell best at the [Soda City] Market.”
Jalapeno cheddar bread has proven to be a universally popular selection, Reininger noted. Other popular breads at JJ’s Place include a traditional sourdough — it’s the top-seller, he said — and the garlic rosemary.
As the Meeting Street bakery has launched, JJ’s Place has expanded its offerings beyond bread. Treats at the shop include brownies, danishes, muffins, scones and much more. This reporter purchased a cinnamon bun during a recent visit. The offering was wonderfully flavorful, with a potent cinnamon taste and a generous, but expertly applied, amount of icing.
Caldwell said she started baking when she was a teenager, and still remembers the oatmeal cookies that were her starter specialty back then. Through the years she’s learned, read and experimented, honed her skills and explored new and creative recipes.
She is hopeful the recently opened storefront will connect them with their neighbors on a community level.
“We just really want to become a part of people’s routines, and genuinely be that neighborhood bakery that people come to,” Caldwell said. “One of our favorite things about [Soda City] is that we get to know people and follow their stories. We want to be able to do that [at the Meeting Street bakery], too. I’m a people person and I love to get to know people’s stories and follow up with them.
“That connection is important to what we do.”
Meeting new customers and sharing a bond through baked goods — both at Soda City and at the new bakery — has been a welcome aspect of the business, Reininger noted.
“Connecting with people through food has been fantastic,” Reininger said. “We’ve had people say, ‘Oh, my father really likes your bread and he’s Italian and he doesn’t like anybody’s bread but yours’ or ‘This reminds me of this cake that we used to get’ wherever. That’s really awesome, that we get to be a part of people’s family.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
The State
Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 20 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of a host of South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, business beat reporting, election coverage, social media and more.