There has been a major expansion push recently with regards to cookie shops. The national yearning for the comforting, feel-good sensation that fresh baked cookies represent is spurring demand for these retailers. Customers are drawn to treat purchases that will sweeten their moods in these increasingly stressful pandemic-era times. Cookie brands tend to seek inline or or end cap units that can accommodate all types of demographic areas, including college towns, downtown urban metropolitan districts, as well as family-focused neighborhoods. Shopping centers, grocery-anchored centers, street-front mixed-use spaces and strip mall sites are all equally appealing to these brands.
Tennessee-brand Whimsy Cookie Company, with nine units throughout the South, looks to open 10 to 15 new units per year over the next three years, with immediate growth centered in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas. Expect further expansion into more Southeast and Southwest markets. The brand seeks out 2,000 and 3,000 s.f. of space, either standalone units or end cap, in outdoor grocery-anchored mall spaces, lifestyle centers or street-front retail districts. Whimsy Cookie Company is slated to open a 1,336-s.f. standalone unit before the end of the year at a former Batteries Plus Blubs in the Bearden Village retail district in Knoxville, Tenn. The brand is known for its decorative and customized soft sugar cookies, as well as its decadent specialties, such as gooey butter cookies and Oreo-stuffed cookies.
