Blue Magnolia Bread Company brings sourdough to historic Tupelo Hardware complex

Blue Magnolia Bread Co. is opening its third location this summer in the historic Tupelo Hardware complex, a move that gives the growing sourdough bakery a downtown home with real character and a built-in stream of visitors.

The bakery will occupy the third building at the site in downtown Tupelo, while the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau moves into the main Tupelo Hardware building and the adjacent one. City leaders also agreed to keep pass-throughs open between the buildings, turning the property into a connected destination rather than three separate spaces.

For Blue Magnolia, the expansion adds more than square footage. The company began with Amanda Scott baking homemade sourdough, then grew after she started selling at farmers markets and could not keep up with demand, even with three ovens running at full capacity. Today, the business already operates in Saltillo and New Albany, and its public locations are listed at 389 Mobile Street in Saltillo and 102 S Railroad Ave. in New Albany.

The Tupelo move also deepens the brand’s identity as a place for gathering, not just bread pickup. Blue Magnolia says its spaces are meant for community use, and its Saltillo location includes an upstairs library with more than 1,000 books, a balcony overlooking downtown, and room for events with up to 100 guests. The company’s menu centers on artisan breads, pastries, bagels, sweet treats, handcrafted coffee, hearty sandwiches, and catering.

The setting matters because the Tupelo Hardware complex carries a powerful local history. Tupelo Hardware was founded in 1926 and is widely known as the store where Elvis Presley got his first guitar after his mother, Gladys Presley, bought it there. The store said its historic downtown location would close on Dec. 31, 2025, and local reporting said the City of Tupelo agreed to purchase two of the three buildings and preserve the first floor for public access and Elvis history.

Downtown Tupelo Main Street says the city has been a designated Main Street community since 1992 and describes Tupelo as the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and a commercial and cultural hub for North Mississippi. The organization says its work has helped produce 635 new businesses, 36 business expansions, 1,716 new jobs, and more than $299 million in combined public and private investment, a backdrop that helps explain why a sourdough bakery would see downtown Tupelo as a place to plant its next flag.