A new combination bookstore, music store and bake shop has opened at 6000 Meadowbrook Mall Court in Clemmons. Kingdom K-Pop, Books, & Bake Shop is the brainchild of a local family and a shared love of Korean K-Pop music, romance novels and baking. Haelee Williams (from left), Kaitlyn Williams, Deidre Williams and Morgan Dial pose for a portrait at Kingdom on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 6000 Meadowbrook Mall Court Suite 1 in Clemmons, N.
C. Kingdom is a K-pop music store, romance book store and bake shop. Matriarch Deidre Williams worked in the deli/bakery Fresh Foods sections of Harris Teeter for 23 years, but her passion has always been for baking.
Williams, her 32-year-old daughter Kaitlyn Williams and “adopted daughter”/close family friend 28-year-old Morgan Dial also share a love of K-pop, the form of popular music that has become a worldwide phenomenon in recent years. Kaitlyn and Morgan also are big fans of romance novels, and 18-year-old daughter Haelee shares Deidre’s interest in baking. Sweet potato milk bread buns at Kingdom on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 6000 Meadowbrook Mall Court Suite 1 in Clemmons, N.
C. Kingdom is a K-pop music store, romance book store and bake shop. “Kaitlyn was the initial K-pop fan,” Deidre said.
“Morgan was an employee of mine, who became friends with my daughter through K-pop. We all started going to concerts together. It was something we all loved for a long, long time, but felt frustrated because every time we wanted to go to a physical location we had to drive to Raleigh, Durham, Cary or to Charlotte.
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"Two years ago we (were at) an ATEEZ (K-pop boy band) concert and said, ‘You know, we should think about opening one.’” Kingdom – whose name is partly inspired by a K-pop reality TV show – sells romance novels, K-pop CDs and related merchandise, and a small selection of baked goods. Address: 6000 Meadow Brook Mall Court, Suite 1, Clemmons, N.
C. Phone: 336-306-9753 Hours: 10 a.m.
to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.
m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday Facebook: Kingdom K-Pop, Books, and Bake Shop Deidre said the shop has about 3,900 K-pop items. That includes not only CDs, but also DVDs, photo books, poster photos, concert light sticks and more. There’s even an Instagram photo wall and life-size cutouts of a few K-pop stars.
A seating area is surrounded by shelves full of romance novels and K-pop media at Kingdom on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 6000 Meadowbrook Mall Court Suite 1 in Clemmons, N.C. Kingdom is a K-pop music store, romance book store and bake shop.
Deidre said that though people can buy K-pop online, most music stores in this area carry just a couple K-pop titles. The women all wanted a physical store in this area that specializes in this kind of music. It was the same frustration with romance titles, Kaitlyn said.
Most bookstores carry just a few titles – especially indie ones - so customers had to mostly shop online and couldn’t do much in the way of book browsing. “There are a lot of people who want to go into a store, physically pick up a book and buy it,” Kaitlyn said. “So we were like, ‘Hey, let’s try to offer those titles in person.
’” The romance-novel side of the shop is smaller than the K-pop side, but has a selection of hundreds of new titles, divided into such specialties as sports-themed romance. Deidre, assisted by Haelee, does all the baking in the renovated garage of their Winston-Salem home, whose kitchen is inspected by the N.C.
Department of Agriculture. They then bring the finished baked goods into the shop. “I’ve been a baker, cake decorator my whole life, since I was 18 years old,” Deidre said.
“I always did cakes on the side. I have a passion for it.” Deidre particularly loves making Japanese milk bread, which uses a special technique to produce an especially soft and fluffy white bread that’s perfect for tomato sandwiches, among other things.
The shop sells milk-bread loaves for $12 each. It sells milk-bread buns ($4.50) with a variety of fillings including vegetable curry, sweet potato, red-bean paste and sweet custard.
There also are iced milk-bread cinnamon buns for $15 a package. The shop also has chocolate-covered marshmallows and pretzels, cake pops and brownies. Mini cakes are available in chocolate fudge and birthday.
Cookies come in matcha, chocolate chip, sugar and more. A refrigerated case holds Korean and Japanese sodas. Diedre said she plans to use a room in the back for cake-decorating classes and more.
There also will be plenty of K-pop events, such as card trading. [email protected] (336) 727-7394 @mhastingswsj With our weekly newsletter packed with the latest in everything food.
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