Cookie lovers get a special treat as the second Springfield Crumbl Cookies store hosts a grand opening May 24.
The south Springfield store, located at 1979 E. Independence St., hosted a soft opening May 23, co-owner Neil Hansen said. The James River store has been in the works for about a year and is run by a different franchisee group than the Crumbl Cookies store in north Springfield.
The 2,000-square foot Crumbl Cookies will be open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The cookie shop is closed on Sundays.
Hansen said it's the “quality of the cookies” that separates Crumbl from competitors. Baked daily and kept warm with large industrial heaters, the cookies arrive hot and fresh to customers in Crumbl's iconic pink boxes. Every week, the menu of six cookies changes, ensuring customers have the opportunity to try something new.
“The only thing that will be pretty similar is there will be some version of chocolate chip,” Hansen said. “Other than that, it's going to be a completely different lineup of cookies” every week.
North side and South side Crumbl Cookies have different franchisees
The Crumbl Cookies on Independence is owned by KSA Holdings, which owns 12 Crumbl franchises in Missouri and Kansas, Hansen said. Hansen is one of six partners in KSA, which has stores in the Kansas City area and in Wichita, Kansas.
KSA Holdings starts a different LLC for each of its Missouri stores, according to Missouri Secretary of State Office records. Each LLC contains the words “KSA” and “cookie” in its name. Hansen declined to disclose a total financial investment for the new Crumbl store.
The new Crumbl store is located in the James River Towne Center, near Walmart and Kohl's. Blue Star MO Ownership, L.P., owns the building, according to Greene County Tax Assessor's Office records. The 19,776 square-foot shopping center had a total appraised value of $2.4 million.
The store owners include Amy and Steve Wallace, who live in Liberty, Missouri, according to a company press release. The Wallaces moved more than 1,000 miles and sold a family food truck business to open their first Crumbl.
The north Springfield Crumbl store, located at 2411 N. Glenstone Ave., opened in late March 2024, according to previous Hauxeda reporting. Trevor, Porter and Stockton Curtis own the north Springfield store, and it marks the third franchise the Curtises own, according to Crumbl press release.
A general manager implanted in the community
Crumbl Cookies has more than 1,000 stores in 50 states and last year, the company expanded internationally, according to the company website. The franchise is the fastest-growing American cookie company and is a family-owned business.
Hansen declined to disclose the franchise fee for the James River location and the information is not made publicly available on the company website. Crumbl Cookies suggests a franchisee have a minimum liquidity of $150,000.
With the store on Independence in the works for so long, Hansen said he and the other partners knew they had to have someone who lived in the Springfield metro area to run the store. Enter Amelia Cordell, general manager.
Cordell has been with Crumbl for just over a year, training in the company's new market store just outside of Wichita before moving to a store in the city, she said. She moved to Springfield in January to be the head honcho at the south side location.
The Springfield store is much bigger than the store Cordell managed in Wichita, she said, and she's looking forward to taking advantage of that space. While the general manager is still adjusting to Springfield, she said she's falling in love with it.
Cordell is “fairly new, still getting to know the area,” she said. “Absolutely, I love it. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming.”
“It's been an adjustment. It's definitely smaller than Wichita.”
