Coralville residents have started to notice new signs, directing their eyes to a currently vacant building. The signature simple pink logo with black bubble letters advertises the opening of Crumbl Cookies, a bakery franchise launched in 2017 that is now a national chain.
Besides its address at 2799 Commerce Dr., little is known about Coralville’s soon-to-be first Crumbl location.
In an email to The Daily Iowan, Crumbl’s media relations team wrote, “We cannot confirm an exact opening date or additional details for Crumbl-Coralville at this time, although we are working on it and hoping to see that particular store open in early to late spring.”
Crumbl clarified further, writing that the media relations team only receives in-depth details about a location a few weeks prior to its opening.
The franchise began in 2017 when cousins Sawyer Hemsley and Jason McGowan founded the chain in Logan, Utah. Since 2023, the franchise has spread to every state across the country with eight locations in Iowa. The Coralville location will mark the franchise’s ninth location in the state.
With Crumbl’s proximity to Iowa City and the University of Iowa, its awaited opening has drawn mixed reactions from UI students.
Hannah Maschino, a second-year student at Iowa, was excited to hear the news of Crumbl opening in the neighboring city of Coralville.
“I think it’s really cool that they’re bringing it to Coralville,” she said. “A lot of other towns have it, like college towns. I’m always seeing things on social media about it. I’m from a small town, so I don’t usually get to try all these chains.”
Maschino also said she does not believe the bakery’s location in Coralville is too far out of reach for students to enjoy the store’s cookies.
“I kind of view Iowa City and Coralville as the same because they’re pretty much together,” she said. “I think it would be close enough. I have my car so I can drive there. I know some other college students in Iowa City probably don’t have a car, so maybe not for them, but I still think that they would have pretty good business there.”
Some students, like first-year Penelope Alvis, are not as optimistic about the opening. Alvis said she thinks it does not add much to the options already available nearby.
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“I think it’ll be really popular because people love Crumbl,” she said. “But we already have Cookies and Dreams in Coralville, and it’s an amazing cookie shop. I think it might take away business from that, and it’s also way better than Crumbl and makes Crumbl-sized cookies.”
Alvis believes the new bakery will enjoy good business, but the bakery franchise can’t compare to Cookies and Dreams, which is located three miles from the Crumbl location. She also said she felt Crumbl’s entire cookie selection blended together in sweet-spiked monotony.
“They’ll just change one thing and pretend that it’s a completely different kind of cookie,” she said.
Despite her preferences, Alvis said Crumbl expansion into Iowa City could benefit the franchise, and she’d like to see it come to Iowa City.
“I think it would be possibly more successful if it opened in Iowa City versus in Coralville, just because there are more people in Iowa City,” she said.