Two sisters will open the first Knoxville area location of boutique bakery The Whimsy Cookie Company.
Franchisees Kari Summers and Kristi Hawn will open the store this fall at 4927 Kingston Pike across the street from the Bearden Kroger.
Hawn discovered the brand while attending pharmacy school in Memphis and often visited the original store.
Founder Laurie Suriff launched the custom cookie business from her home in 2006. Collins Tuohy Smith, whose family was made famous by the film "The Blind Side," became a co-owner of the brand .
The brand has celebrity fans like Reese Witherspoon and Miranda Lambert.
Whimsy launched franchising in 2018 and has eight locations open and another 12 in development across the South.
"It kind of became a special place for me, and then a couple years ago we saw that they were starting to franchise out, so I was really interested in bringing that to Knoxville," Hawn said.
The sisters and their father, Steve Summers, invested in the business. Kari Summers will run the day-to-day operations of what will be an "adorable pink building" when construction is complete.
"When you walk in, they call it Whimsy magic, but it really does kind of make you feel special when you walk in the door," Hawn said.
The brand is known for its decorative sugar cookies for themed occasions, chocolate chip buttercream sandwiches, cookies stuffed with Oreo, cookie cakes and eight flavors of gooey butter cookies.
The sisters said they saw an opportunity and signed on as exclusive franchisees in the Knoxville area, which Whimsy estimates could support up to five locations. They have no plans yet to open a second location but are eyeing the Pigeon Forge area.
"We really don't have anything like Whimsy in Knoxville," Summers said. "I know some people make sugar cookies out of their homes, but there's really not a store where you can go in and grab them, and that's the unique thing about Whimsy."
The store will have birthday, graduation and holiday cookies available for purchase without placing an order, but custom orders will also be available. The sisters chose the Bearden location to appeal to both West Knoxville families and sororities on campus.
“Knoxville is an area we have wanted to expand to for a while,” Whimsy President John Kutac said in a press release. “We are excited to strengthen our presence in the brand’s home state of Tennessee and bring our delicious products to new communities.”
The store will also sell J. Brooks Coffee and Shotwell Candy Co. products, two other Memphis-based businesses.
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Email business reporter Brenna McDermott at brenna.mcdermott@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @_BrennaMcD.
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September 02, 2020 at 04:01PM
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Whimsy Cookie Company and its fancy iced sugar cookies are coming to Knoxville - Knoxville News Sentinel
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