ORANGE — Fran and Mike Bates like to say their new bakery sits “over the top” of their indoor flea market, Bates Down Under. They like to say it so much, in fact, that the business carries that distinction in its name.

Over The Top Bakery opened at 90 New Athol Road on Thursday morning, having debuted with a six-hour soft opening during Orange’s Midnight Madness holiday event on Dec. 9.

“We had a nice crowd come through,” Mike Bates said of business during Midnight Madness.

The bakery will now be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays through Mondays. A grand opening celebration will likely occur after the holidays.

“We can’t grand-open without the chandelier,” Fran Bates joked on Wednesday.

The new business at Hillcrest Plaza will feature the typical homemade baked goods as well as to-go meals and a refrigerator stocked with drinks, including some novelty soft beverages flavored like lemon meringue pie and coffee cake. The business also sells Over The Top Bakery medium and dark roasts crafted by Dean’s Bean Organic Coffee Co., and the Bates plan to offer bubble tea soon.

In addition to Bates Down Under, the couple also owns Bates Crafters Gallery next door at 80 New Athol Road. Bates Down Under got its name from the fact that it is next door to the crafters gallery and accessible through a side door toward the back of the building.

“So now [customers] can go get an apple hand pie or a muffin and go shop downstairs,” Fran Bates quipped.

She said she dabbles in home baking and got the crafters gallery’s kitchen certified a couple of years ago. She has been using it to make gourmet cookies that have sold so well at the gallery that the two decided to expand their expertise with a bakery.

“I mean, people come in looking for them,” Fran Bates said.

The Bates have also hired Lisa Sargent, who once owned Cookies and Dreams Bakery in the same spot.

Mike Bates mentioned the bakery is good to go, except for a few minor cosmetic features. The Orange Selectboard approved the bakery’s common victualler license at its Dec. 6 meeting.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.