New bakery opens in West Columbia.

• Position: Breads & Such

A new West Columbia bakery is a testament to what happens when four friends with a lifelong appreciation for food and cooking decide to follow their dreams.

Breads & Such, located at 1220 C Avenue, was opened in late summer by long-time friends Beth Crolley, Chris Moore, Christine Hall and Bobby Johnson.

The bakery's menu features fresh breads, cakes and pies as well as other signature items such as homemade chicken salad and pimento cheese. Special items are available at other times, such as biscuits and gravy on Saturday mornings.

Crolley said the four business partners all met several years ago when they were working in the education field. All four were interested in good food, and Crolley and Moore especially spent much of their time away from work cooking as a hobby.

After Moore and Crolley retired, they decided to go to work doing what they loved. Both said their love of cooking was inherited from parents who also loved creating in the kitchen.

"I look forward to coming to work every day now for me to get up at 4:30 a.m. and want to go to work, that is a big deal for me," Moore said. "We're just here in the kitchen creating and having...