Photo courtesy of Ellen Morris.
Gingerbread Lady
Ellen Morris, center, at a Junior League of Birmingham event where she had a booth displaying her goods from the Gingerbread Lady Gift Shop.
Known to many simply as The Gingerbread Lady, Ellen Morris has been making gingerbread houses for 52 years.
The Meadowbrook resident learned the art from her mother when she was 15 and continues the tradition today at her new store soon to open in the Greystone Center.
Morris started her actual business in the early 1990s, when the popularity of her houses increased after donating them to raise money for charity. For the past several years, she has operated The Gingerbread Lady Gift Shop, a whimsical store featuring gifts of all kinds, at Grants Mill Station in Irondale. But the foot traffic was not there to sustain the business, she said.
“I’ve watched 13 stores go out of business (in Grants Mill Station) in 2 1/2 years,” Morris said. “I probably stayed a year and a half longer than I should have, hoping there would be a turnaround, and I just don’t see it. I’ve made really nice friends here. They’ve been very supportive people.”
Since she lives off U.S. 280, Morris decided to relocate her store to the Greystone Center near Hunan Cuisine.
“I’m going to bring in new lines and change things up a bit, but I’m not going to change everything,” she said. “The store will be as wacky as it ever was.”
Her regular-sized houses take 12-14 hours to craft, with a three-day turnaround. No two are the same, as she creates a special pattern for each design. Using a recipe she developed more than 50 years ago, Morris makes everything by hand. Due to demand, she begins receiving orders for Christmas houses as early as May.
In addition to the gingerbread houses, she also makes more elaborate designs, including churches, barns, castles, merry-go-rounds, trains and more. In 2014, Morris was commissioned to make the gingerbread replica of the White House for the American Village in Montevallo, which was done in previous years by a White House chef.
Morris lost her husband, John, in August 2015 on the 44th anniversary of the day they met. He was her inspiration for turning this into a career because he told her she would never make any money doing gingerbread houses. She set out to prove him wrong and got a business license the next day. She was glad John was able to see the new location before he passed away and gave her his blessing to close the deal.
“He told me he wanted to know for sure that I was moving the store back to 280, so I made it happen,” Morris said. “I closed the deal on a handshake and signed the lease two weeks after he died. Things have a way of working out, just not the way you expect them to.”
At the new location, Morris will continue selling Christmas items year-round. Her inventory will also include high-end baking supplies, including melting chocolates, food coloring, icing, spatulas and edible glitter. Other items for sale include wedding shower gifts, baby gifts, greeting cards and jewelry. She hopes to also have a room to teach cake decorating classes. To magnify the shopping experience, Morris also has a table and chairs with free coffee for her customers.
“The store is evolving, but you’re dealing with a child of the ’60s, and the hippie is going to come out,” she said. “I have to have fun. It’s got to be colorful. I’m here for hours every day, so I try to make it a fun place.”
Morris said she always wanted to be a famous artist and remembers her mother telling her to be careful for what she wished.
“I never expected it to be making gingerbread houses,” she said. “They’re very artistically done, and I’m not complaining about it, but it’s not what I expected. If I can bring joy to people and see that inner child light up, it gives me satisfaction.”
The Gingerbread Lady Gift Shop
- WHERE: 5510 U.S. 280, Suite 110
- HOURS: Wed-Sun, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
- CALL: 960-7040
- WEB: thegingerbreadlady.com; Facebook: The Gingerbread Lady, LLC
