JANIE’S PASTRY SHOP
a sweet tradition in Brookhaven
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRUDY W. BERGER
W
Walk through the doors of
this Lincoln County bake
shop and you will imme-
diately sense a sugar rush
as well as the sense of nos-
talgia. Janie’s Pastry Shop
has operated continuously
since 1939, in the same
location since 1941, all but
eight years by members of one extended “family.”
Customers come from all around, surrounding
counties, Hattiesburg, Jackson, New Orleans, the
Delta, Alabama, California and all the other
states. What is the allure of this place filled with
cakes, pies, Mardi Gras king cakes, doughnuts,
and all manner of sweet rolls and cookies? It has
to be the rock-solid character and constancy of its
namesake, Janie Stogner.
Janie and husband Keith Stogner have owned
the pastry shop in its current format since
November of 1989, but Janie literally grew up in
the shop. Her parents, Walter and Lottie Moak,
worked for the shop’s founders, Janie and
Norman Traver. So close were the two families
that Janie was named for Mrs. Traver, who died
just one week prior to Janie’s birth.
“Some of my earliest memories are of toddling
around this store watching Mr. Traver and my
dad bake and my mom work the front counter,”
Janie recalls. “Then when Mr. Traver got older
and ready to retire, my parents gradually bought
him out. But as I grew up working in the shop, I
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 25

guess I resented everything hav-
ing to be done my dad’s way, so I
finally left and went to work dec-
orating cakes for Kroger in
McComb.”
That stint away from the shop
turned into an eight year sojourn
for Janie, during which time she
married Keith and expanded her
skill set and business experience.
Returning to Brookhaven, Janie
decided to buy the Pastry Shop
back from its current owners. It
had changed hands a couple of
times once her parents had
retired, but wisely Janie and her
brother had retained ownership
of the name and recipes. Janie set
about obtaining a bank loan and
purchasing the business she was
destined to own and operate.
Known far and wide for her
decorated cakes, Janie comments
“All of my cakes are made from
scratch with fresh ingredients.”
The afternoon of the interview
the front door opened and closed
with a constant stream of cus-
tomers. Morning business is
heavy as well with coffee
drinkers, doughnut and pastry
seekers. Lunchtime finds a steady
26 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
stream of customers seeking tasty
items from the lunch menu.
Although the hours she puts in
are still long, Janie says “I’ve cut
back - I don’t work 36 hours
straight the ways I used to.” Of
course when she gets ready for
Valentine’s Day and fills her dis-
play cases with hand-dipped
thousand strawberries in scrump-
tious melted chocolate by the
thousands she will doubtless pull
another 36 hour tour of duty.
Janie loves what she does and
she loves her shop – she has the
quiet assurance and confidence
that comes with experience and
faith, and she has both in abun-
dance.
As Brookhaven enjoys a rebirth
of its downtown area through
restoration, renovation and
preservation of older buildings,
Janie is particularly appreciative
of the fact that she was able to
retain the location of her shop.
“Sure, my customers would
have probably followed me to
another place,” she says with a
broad smile, “but I’m not so sure
about my dad.” You see, Walter
Moak still inhabits Janie’s Pastry
Janie’s Pastry Shop, 206 S.
Whitworth Ave., one block
south of the depot and across
from the log cabin in downtown
Brookhaven;
(601) 833-4321
Open 5:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday–Saturday
Shop. “I know whenever he’s
here; I can hear him whistling
sometimes. And I’m just not sure
he’d go with me to another build-
ing,” Janie says.
The shop is 71 years old now
and she looks forward to cele-
brating 75 years in business.
“I just think it would be so
neat to have a big 75th celebra-
tion. Another thing I think is neat
is that one of my customers
comes in once a month to fill up
a container of cookies to send to
his grandson who’s serving in
Iraq,” Janie says.
With customers like that, there
is no doubt Janie Stogner will
attain whatever goal she sets.
JANIE’S FAMOUS PECAN PIE
1 cup sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup pecans
Bake in unbaked pie shell at
350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.