Popular central Pa. vendors join forces to open new shop. Take a look inside the Sweet Suite

What happens when two budding businesses specializing in making sweet treats combine forces to open their own storefront in the heart of a historic Centre County town?

Well, you just have to ask Mae Kopchik and sisters Tawnya Reitz and Carreena Timblin — the owners of the newly-opened Sweet Suite in downtown Philipsburg.

The Sweet Suite, which opened its doors to the public earlier this month, is bringing the combined forces of two of the Moshannon Valley’s most popular vendors — Kopchik’s Mae’s Makin’s and Reitz’s and Timblin’s Sissy’s Sassy Apples — into one shop, but the story behind the business isn’t what you might expect.

According to the business owners, the whole idea was an almost-overnight decision.

“It all started whenever we began to see Mae at all of the same events that we were going to,” Reitz said. “We’d have stands close to each other and the three of us were always talking with one another. One night we all jokingly talked about joining forces and opening a business up together, selling all of our goods. The next morning Mae messaged us and said that she was genuinely interested, and we were sold on the idea.”

Before the opening of the Suite, the three businesswomen were making all of their goods in their own kitchens — something they all knew they couldn’t keep up for much longer.

“Our businesses started to outgrow our homes and we knew it was time,” Kopchik said.

From that moment, the three were in it together, and to their surprise, the process of opening the shop wasn’t as hard as they anticipated.

Once the trio found a space for rent in Philipsburg, they jumped at the chance and began to set up shop.

“The move-in process went much more smoothly that I think any of us could’ve anticipated,” Reitz said. “Over the course of three months we got everything where we wanted it to be and picked an opening date — honestly the hardest part about owning this business is that there simply isn’t enough time in a day.”

Oftentimes the three owners find themselves staying at the business until 2 a.m., prepping for the day to come.

While the days may be long, they said the community feedback has been well worth the effort, along with what they feel they’re adding to a historic town.

“People come up to us all the time and tell us how wonderful the place is and how glad they are that a business like this has moved into Philipsburg,” Timblin said. “I think in this little sweet shop that we’ve got, we’re really adding a missing piece to this town.”

As far as the goods go though, the Sweet Suite has no shortage of delights.

With an abundance of candy apples and several different flavors of cheesecake that Sissy’s Sassy Apples brings to the table, and the baked goods and award-winning cookies that Mae’s Makin’s contributes, the three have found themselves a winning combination.

Some of the shop’s most popular goods include the salted caramel apples and chocolate chip cookies, but the best selling item is the classic strawberry cheesecake.

“We sell out of that (strawberry) cheesecake almost every day,” Reitz said. “No matter how many new flavors we put out of any of our products, that cheesecake almost always outsells them.”

As the Sweet Suite continues to grow, the owners are looking to add more items to the menu to appeal to a greater variety of customers, such as gluten free items.

Regardless of how popular the new business get though, the trio will never forget where they started.

“I never would’ve thought that we’d own our own business like this,” Reitz said. “We started out making these sweets for our friends, families and communities and now here we are — we owe all of the credit to them for getting us started.”

The Sweet Suite is located at 119 Front St. in Philipsburg and is open from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and is closed on Sundays and Mondays.