Magnolia Bakery, perhaps best known for its cupcakes and for appearing in the TV show Sex and the City, is opening its largest store in the world (so far) in Doha tomorrow.

Located at the new Dar Al Salam Mall in the Abu Hamour area, it is Magnolia Bakery’s fourth shop in the Middle East, starting with Dubai in 2010 and followed recently by back-to-back openings in Kuwait and Beirut last month.

“It’s an emerging market – a lot of the countries we’re going into are very interested in an American brand, but they’re also interested in quality brands, and our brand is all about quality and about consistency,” Bobbie Lloyd, Magnolia’s President and Operating Partner told Doha News at a media event earlier today.

News that the upscale bakery was coming to Qatar was first announced a year ago. The company also intends to expand into Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

The lineup of 160 rotating offerings at the Doha shop include American-style pies, old-fashion icebox cakes, banana pudding, and of course cupcakes.

Pricing is on the upper end – comparable with the likes of Red Velvet Cupcakery at Katara and Sugar and Spice at Lagoona Mall, with cupcakes at Magnolia going for 17-19 QR, and mini pies go up to 39 QR.

But Lloyd said she believes customers here will be happy to pay that price for a superior product. “Everything we bake is from scratch, we don’t start the day out and make a huge batch of something… it’s all being done in small batches,” she told Doha News.

On Wednesday, January 16, the bakery will host an opening reception from 6pm-8pm. Thereafter, Magnolia will be open daily from 8am-11pm.

Here are the event details:

Will you be visiting?

Credit: Photos by Omar Chatriwala