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As soon as she stepped through the door on a recent visit, longtime Vanilla Bean customer Kate Teasdale scanned the Odana Road store’s walls of decorative, vintage cake pans. Among the molds of Strawberry Shortcake, Pikachu, Spongebob and Batman hangs one of her favorite childhood memories: the Popple cake pan.
For Teasdale, the Popple pan — based on the 1980s plush toys — reminded her of shared moments with her mother growing up and coming to Vanilla Bean. So when she heard the store would be closing on June 11 after 43 years in business, she and her husband, Chuck, knew it deserved a second chance…