The woman
behind Mae’s Sweets.
For Lillie, a bakery has never been just a place to buy something sweet. It is a place where people know your name, conversations linger, and a familiar treat can feel a little like home.
Some of the best memories start at the bakery.
Growing up in Cincinnati, Lillie remembers stopping at a neighborhood bakery before and after school. She remembers the bakers in their uniforms and hats, but what stayed with her most was how the place felt: familiar, welcoming and woven into everyday life.
Mae’s Sweets with Soul carries that memory forward in Charleston. Lillie began selling through local pop-ups in 2019, while working toward a permanent bakery of her own. The goal has stayed simple: make good food with care, welcome people warmly, and build the kind of place families want to return to.
Made here. Shared here.Rooted in a city that knows hospitality.
What began with Lillie sharing her baking at local pop-ups is growing into a permanent home for Mae’s Sweets on Savannah Highway. The vision is the same one she has carried from the beginning: a welcoming bakery and café where people can slow down, sit together and feel known — with a little extra convenience when life calls for something sweet on the go.
Lowcountry warmth. Family roots. Sweets made to share.
Three women. One family story.
The name honors the women whose love, strength and example helped shape Lillie. Their names are part of the bakery because their influence is part of everything behind it.
Building Mae’s Sweets together.
Mae’s Sweets is more than a bakery plan. It is Lillie and Carl showing up at markets, sharing the sweets, meeting neighbors and building the business one relationship at a time.
Charleston has been watching Mae’s Sweets grow.
From local features to community events, people have followed Lillie’s journey as Mae’s Sweets moves closer to opening its permanent home. That attention matters because the story behind the sweets is just as genuine as what comes out of the oven.
See the coverageA local story people are noticing.
Mae’s Sweets has been part of Charleston’s small-business conversation for years. These features follow the journey from Lillie’s early bakery plans to the groundbreaking and the next chapter taking shape today.
Mae’s Sweets joins Charleston hospitality leaders
Lillie and Carl Smalls represented Mae’s Sweets with Soul as the veteran-owned bakery prepares to debut on Savannah Highway.
Read the feature What Now CharlestonMae’s Sweets breaks ground after a seven-year journey
The local publication followed Lillie’s long road from buying the property in 2019 to breaking ground on the bakery she kept believing in.
Read the feature South Carolina Community Loan FundA Charleston small-business dream takes shape
SCCLF featured Lillie and Carl’s story, their family roots, veteran-owned business and vision for a bakery designed to feel like home.
Read the feature What Now CharlestonLocal baker’s brick-and-mortar vision
An early feature introduced Charleston readers to Lillie Mae Smalls, her Army service, neighborhood-bakery inspiration and plans for Mae’s Sweets.
Read the featureScratch-made sweets should taste like somebody took their time.
The bakery Lillie remembers was part of the neighborhood. Mae’s Sweets is built with that same spirit.
Mae’s Sweets is about more than today’s order. It is something Lillie hopes can inspire generations to come.
Now, let’s find you something sweet.
See what Mae’s Sweets is baking or tell us what you have planned.