An Oneonta café, bakery and gift shop is testing the waters in Milford, opening a new location after operating in five previous retail spaces.
“You have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince,” co-owner Rebekah Hopkins said.
Freestyle makes dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan and other specialties as pre-ordered items, such as pecan and pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving and other holidays.
Personalized brownie cakes are also a best seller. One special request they filled was a cookie cake that said “one year sober.”
After three years on Main Street in the city of Oneonta, Freestyle owners Rebekah and Vincent Hopkins moved their business to its new location at 2515 state Route 28.
“We are the upstate Cracker Barrel,” Vincent Hopkins said. They modeled the Cracker Barrel experience on a smaller scale: the concept of shopping for gifts and souvenirs while waiting for food to be freshly prepared.
They hope to capture some of the tourist traffic during baseball season on Route 28. There are very few food choices, except what’s offered at gas stations, until drivers reach restaurants in Cooperstown, they said.
In the bakery’s newest configuration and location, Freestyle has added breakfast sandwiches, coffee, tea and a lunch menu, including BLTs and chicken salad sandwiches.
They also sell cards, home goods and some Valentine’s Day items this time of year in what Rebekah Hopkins calls her “shoppe.” She said she chose the British spelling of shop to make her retail business more exotic sounding.
“It feels cozy. It feels like a home,” one customer told Rebekah Hopkins. The couple plays music over a sound system to enhance the atmosphere.
Although it has only been open a few weeks on Route 28, the business is already getting more traffic from people traveling to and from Milford and Cooperstown.
There is a tall sign with the Freestyle logo towering over a large parking lot. Free and convenient parking are business essentials, they learned.
The couple got married in 2014 and have a son together. They started off as Freestyle Confections in 2018, selling baked goods at farmers’ markets.
“It’s a great way to get your name out there,” Rebekah Hopkins said. They used to participate in the farmers’ markets in Delhi, Milford and Oneonta. Now, they stock the Farmstead Market in Milford with cookies, brownies and their own version of rice krispies treats.
The farm stand operates on the honor system and is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Customers scan their purchases just as they would at larger stores.
Emerson Riley, Rebekah’s daughter, is another member of the business. She works for her parents part-time.
“Emerson has been waiting on customers since she was 9 years old,” her mother said. Now the mother-daughter duo also decorates cupcakes and cookies together.
Demand for cookie kits increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The blank sugar cookie kits allowed children to decorate their own cookies.
By offering home delivery, the business’s popularity grew. Today, 75% of Freestyle’s delivery business is from SUNY Oneonta parents, Rebekah Hopkins said.
Parents order birthday balloons, handwritten cards and cookie cakes for their college-age children who are away from home for the first time on their birthday.
Vincent Hopkins said he “learned the ins and outs of restaurant management” at SUNY Morrisville. He transferred to Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks for its culinary program.
By contrast, “I was brought up baking with mom and grandma,” Rebekah Hopkins said. Her mother, Martha Messner, was an integral part of the business until her death in 2024. There is a corner of the new store dedicated to her.
She called her mother “the baker of the family.” Messner worked full time at the Bassett Healthcare facility on Main Street in Oneonta for many years and baked on the side.
“Six hundred people came to her funeral,” Rebekah Hopkins said.
The couple named the business Freestyle because it matches their preference for freedom, travel and music. They also like to change their menu daily.
Vincent Hopkins is from Puerto Rico. He described himself as a beatboxer — a vocalist who mimics percussion instruments.
Rebekah Hopkins grew up singing in church. Her father is a pastor at several Lutheran churches, including Atonement Lutheran Church in Oneonta across the street from Hartwick College.
The couple started off in the Syracuse Bakers Expo. They now participate in the Taste of Syracuse.
“It is so fun. Tens of thousands of people attend this event,” Vincent Hopkins said. One requirement is that vendors must offer a $2 sample of their food product so customers can taste multiple recipes as they walk around.
In 2021, Vincent Hopkins slipped on ice and could not bear weight on his leg for several months. That is when his wife ran with her idea of a gift shop on Main Street.
“We really enjoy being part of Pride Fest every year,” she said. “We’ve been involved since their inception.”
Along the way, the couple learned that baked goods and gift items are non-essentials, and that foot traffic is essential. That is why they offer more breakfast and lunch items as well as drinks.
“We’ve always been foodies,” Vincent Hopkins said.
“Owning our own business came from the urge to not work for other people,” his wife said.
Freestyle is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Find the bakery on social media, https://www.facebook.com/freestyleconfections.