UTICA — Christine Meeker says she’s a dreamer, but even she wasn’t dreaming this big. The sole owner of Christine’s Cookie Shoppe, LLC moved the growing specialty cookie business this spring into a 2,000-square-foot space on the first floor of 171 Genesee St. in downtown Utica. The building is home to @171 Events, which holds […]
UTICA — Christine Meeker says she’s a dreamer, but even she wasn’t dreaming this big.
The sole owner of Christine’s Cookie Shoppe, LLC moved the growing specialty cookie business this spring into a 2,000-square-foot space on the first floor of 171 Genesee St. in downtown Utica. The building is home to @171 Events, which holds wedding receptions, showers, and other events on the fourth and fifth floors of the five-story building.
Christine’s Cookie Shoppe opened to customers on March 29 and held a formal ribbon-cutting event with the Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce on April 28.
Meeker says her 2,000-square-foot space has three main components. A storefront to display and sell the cookies is the largest space, and the second-biggest area is the kitchen where the cookies are prepared. Christine’s Cookie Shoppe also has a party room for kids where they can decorate their own cookies. Meeker says she has booked events for the entire month of August.
The space also has a shipping room to process orders for shipment, and a small business office for Meeker.
Meeker says she received her business certificate and home-processing license in 2011 and operated as a home-based business before moving into the space of Sugarbabes Cupcakes at 46 Genesee St. in New Hartford in 2012, where she was for four years.
She started with a few family recipes and later expanded into a variety of specialty cookies and “sweet gifts.”
Meeker leases her new space from Christine Martin and C. Edward Schmidt, who co-own the five-story building at 171 Genesee St.
“Last August, I was going through a lot of transition personally and with the business. I met Christine and Ed... We stayed in touch for months. When the first-floor location became available, we met again,” Meeker explains.
Though she didn’t originally plan on getting 2,000 square feet, Meeker says “based on my vision for the business, it’s a good fit.”
The goal is to expand to all kinds of parties all year-long. One person recently inquired about having her 30th birthday party at Christine’s Cookie Shoppe.
Meeker’s popular cookies, which she calls Christine’s Collection, include a cannoli cookie sandwich, chocolate chip peanut butter dream, and vanilla buttercream blossom. The BFF Cookie is another popular item Meeker is proud of, saying it took a year for her to create.
Christine’s Cookie Shoppe has three employees total. That includes Meeker working full time, plus one full-time hire and one part-time hire. She expects to hire two more people to staff parties and could add a seasonal work crew for seasonal events.
Providing cookies and sweet treats for wedding receptions, including those held at @171 Events, is currently the biggest generator of revenue for Christine’s Cookie Shoppe, Meeker says. She declined to disclose revenue information but says the business is growing. It just launched a curbside pick-up service, where her staff will run the order out to the customer’s car.
Meeker says things are “pretty incredible” at her new location and she’s looking forward to the future.