After two cookie-less weeks in Mexico, The Cookie Club is back in business and while the treats are the same, the store has undergone some major changes.

What started as a wholesale, online-only cookie business operating out of a kitchen family property became a successful business in need of its own space. In 2019 Kiarah Harris settled on the location at the corner of E. Promenade and S. Washington St. and began prepping the building to open her first brick and mortar store.

“We knew it was going to take a lot of work,” says Harris. “This place was completely different.”

The old store building had been a TV store with dingy old carpet and maroon and blue walls. It had to be completely gutted and rewired before they could even think about moving in.

“We had an idea; it was just expanding on that and figuring out exactly what we were going to do with the space,” remembers Harris. “That's pretty much how we got started here.”

The location is a two-lot, 4,452-square-foot space now sporting the iconic Cookie Club blue and white exterior adorned with cartoon confections. A single door separating the two lots forced Harris’ hand in owning both.

“We didn’t have a choice when we bought the building and we didn't have a vision for it,” says Harris.

Originally, The Cookie Club operated its storefront in the larger of the two spaces. It included a lounge and a small play area for children and their families. 

But after five years in business, it was time for a change

Harris has reinvented her space, moving her main operations into what used to just be the kitchen and prep area. She is currently in the process of clearing out the original storefront to be used for something better. 

“I don’t know if it’s my superpower but if I'm only given so much to make something happen I feel like I'm more creative,” says Harris. “I’m utilizing every square inch and now everything has a function. “

Though the new space is technically smaller, Harris hasn’t seen much of a difference in available seating and customers didn’t seem to mind as they continued to trickle in throughout the afternoon. 

“My vision was that we needed to open up more businesses on the square and we have an abandoned space,” says Harris. “It served its purpose for what we needed at the time but it was time for us to grow in another way.”

Harris is a driven entrepreneur who was recognized by the Missouri Women’s Business Center with a 2024 Women Who Own It Award on Nov. 1. She also has a wealth of knowledge about the food scene.

“All my experience in life is in food,” says Harris. “I’ve worked in different restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores.

Despite her background, Harris originally pursued a career in textile and apparel management at the University of Missouri but never finished her degree because it wasn’t her passion.  

“Once I came to the realization that I didn't wanna do textile and apparel management I was just thinking, ‘what could I wake up every day and enjoy doing?’ ” remembers Harris.

After leaving college in 2012, she moved back home to Chicago before going to culinary school. 

Harris graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu sister school in Georgia.

In some ways, Harris always knew what she was meant to do in life; in a high school entrepreneur program, she pitched a cookie company. Now, combining her love for baking and fierce entrepreneurial drive, she creates homemade ice creams and cookies as a full-time business owner, mother and wife all while brainstorming her next business venture in the now vacant space.