Kayla Renfroe is dreaming of the day when the display case at Cake Street Sweets in upstate Cohoes is once again chock full of pastries, scones and other delectable delights — and so are her sweet-toothed customers.

Renfroe, the creative culinary mind behind the shop’s offerings, knows things will be different when she eventually welcomes people back into the bakery’s quaint storefront, but she’s hopeful that the slow pace the state is setting for reopening as the coronavirus outbreak wanes is the right move.

“It’s tough, but I’m glad,” she said. “It seems safer than just flinging open all the doors.”

Pre-pandemic, the bakeshop specializing in wedding cakes and other treats, earned its place as a staple of Remsen St., the heart of Cohoes’ downtown. A hardscrabble burg of 16,000, about 10 miles north of Albany, Cohoes sits at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. Like many upstate cities along the Erie Canal corridor, the town’s past is evident in century-and-a-half-old mills and factory buildings converted to senior housing and other uses. In addition to Renfroe’s shop, Remsen St. is line with two-and-three-storied brick buildings populated by antique stores, restaurants and barbershops. New sidewalks and lampposts line the street, evidence of recent revitalization efforts now stalled due to the pandemic. History mingles with the contemporary along the strip as local legends like Smith’s restaurant, a famed haunt of old school politicos, and a sushi restaurant sit side-by-side.

Bye-i Brewing Company, a venture started by a pair of craft home brewers who converted a cavernous storefront space on the main drag into a tasting room, was slated to open earlier this year. Now, owner Robert Newberry says the shop will start by filling 64 oz. growlers to go and hope for a grand opening sometime in June. “Everything is in place and we’re just looking for a date to open,” he said.

Restaurants and taverns are part of the third phase of Gov. Cuomo’s economic reopening plan. The state has yet to issue guidance for local watering holes, but Newberry thinks the brewery’s large open layout will work in their favor.

“We’re anxious to see what the state does with occupancy rate, they just haven’t really told us yet,” he said. “With the space we have here, we’re confident we’ll have plenty of enough room for everybody to social distance and enjoy our beer.” Renfroe said a lot of the restaurant owners on the strip have kept in touch in recent weeks, talking about hand sanitizer, masks, and sharing other ideas about reopening safely. She too will soon begin taking curbside pick orders and is working with couples who had to postpone weddings on scaled-back versions of cakes.

“Since this started I’ve been going a little bit further than what I have to do,” she said. “Obviously, I could have stayed completely open this whole time but the thought of spreading something to one of the customers, I couldn’t handle that. Or one of my staff.”

Cohoes is on the northern edge of Albany County, which, as of Friday, has seen 76 COVID-19-related deaths and a little more than 1,600 confirmed cases.

The Capital Region met the first benchmarks of Cuomo’s reopening plan last week, meaning manufacturing, construction and curbside retail could get started. Phase two, which includes real estate, law offices, barbers and salons, can kick off on June 3 if the area keeps its hospitalizations and other metrics in check.

As a whole, Cohoes is no stranger to hard times.

In 2017, a massive fire tore through several blocks of the downtown area destroying or damaging dozens of buildings on Remsen St. and beyond. A similar blaze ripped through the town in 1988.

Last year, the city’s former mayor Shawn Morse pleaded guilty to wire fraud for misusing campaign funds. Danielle Ledduke, who treated her twin 9-year-old daughters Acey and Hailen to sushi takeout on a balmy spring day last week, said she believes the city is poised for another comeback.

“We’ve tried to make Cohoes this nicer place to come and have a nice area with all these new bars and restaurants,” she said, adding that people are anxious to get back to some semblance of normalcy as stay-at-home and social distancing orders are eased.

“I think people are taking this seriously, but it’s time to start looking ahead,” Ledduke said. “This is too small of a community, these businesses, they can’t stay shut down for an extended period and survive.”

In response to the pandemic and ensuing economic fallout, the city has offered a helping hand to small businesses and those in need by planning webinars, operating an emergency food distribution and delivering meals to homebound seniors, said Stephen Napier, the city’s economic development director.

City officials say they’re doing their best to stay on top of state regulations and inform businesses and residents about coming changes as more of the economy moves toward reopening.

“When all of this first started, we did a big push for people to go to restaurants, thinking these restaurants are going to be closed for three weeks, we’ve got to help them,” Napier said. “We were thinking three weeks and that was 10 weeks ago.”

Last week, the town sought to provide a boost to open establishments by creating “Cohoes Takeout Week,” a promotion featuring 20 participating restaurants and a chance to win $500 worth of gift cards. Gail Williams, 71, a resident of the Ogden Mill Apartments, a senior housing complex built in a former cotton processing plant a block off of Remsen St. said the crisis has been a strain on everyone in town.

“I really feel like I’ve been cut off and closed in, even though everybody is still there,” she said. “Because you’re not free to do your daily routine, it’s hard.”

Williams said while the virus has ravaged older New Yorkers at an alarming rate, her heart goes out to the younger generations because the future is so seemingly uncertain.

“What I think this has done is make a lot of people stop and look at themselves and their lives and where they are and where we as older seniors we have gone through a hard time,” she said. “Now, watching our children and our grandchildren go through this is the hardest part.”

There is optimism among businesses and officials in the town that once things get going Cohoes will be stronger than ever.

Mayor Bill Keeler said he sees a light at the end of the tunnel as the state moves toward reopening and thinks the city is ready for whatever comes next.

“We’re all looking forward to reopening,” he said. “Everyone’s got cabin fever and they want to get out and they want to patronize these places. They’re looking forward to that opportunity, we all are.”