DeKALB – Normally chocolate chips, Kentucky Butter Cake and brownies are desserts that would all be found separately. But Friday’s grand opening of a Crumbl Cookies store in DeKalb had customers bringing home boxes of each in the form of gigantic cookies.
The pastel pink boxes have finally touched down in DeKalb. The cookie franchise opened its doors at 8 a.m. at 2566 Sycamore Road after an anticipated wait from the community.
Customers packed into the cookie confectionery taking cookies home by the boxful to savor or share with friends.
DeKalb resident, Gen Waldow, came to the grand opening in hopes of rewarding herself with a treat.
“I was procrastinating from my adult duties and I saw their posts on Facebook, so I had to, I had to do what was good for myself,” Waldow said.
Waldow walked home with a Kentucky Butter Cake, a Graham Cracker Fudge Sandwich and a Brownie Sundae cookie, three of the featured flavors of the week.
Cortland resident, Stephanie Meyn, chose something simpler to enjoy with her 17-month-old son, Zachary.
“We got the free chocolate chip one and I think the brownie (Fudge Brownie),” Meyn said.
Customers who had the Crumbl app on their phones received a free chocolate chip cookie at the opening. Meyn said she planned to share her second cookie with her husband.
“It’s so cute, I want to surprise my husband,” Meyn said.
Owner and former Sycamore High School graduate, Bill Badruddin, shook customers hands while he gave out free Crumbl tumblers and plastic milk carton water bottles to kids.
The Crumbl entrepreneur has locations all over Chicago, but Badruddin had a goal to bring a store to DeKalb.
“Sycamore-DeKalb is like home for me, you know,” Badruddin said. “So, I graduated high school here, elementary, all of that fun stuff, so this was kind of like a gift to the town. I actually own stores in downtown Chicago, so it was like my one off location.”
Badruddin said he had more in mind than paying tribute to his hometown.
“That’s me following my dad’s footsteps,” Badruddin said. “Crazy enough, in 1991 I was in this exact space as a little baby.”
The location was formerly owned by Badruddin’s father when it was previously a Subway sandwich shop. Badruddin said he chose the location thinking it was destiny to have it back under his management.
“We just thought it was destiny – it was meant to be,” Badruddin said. “So for that reason, I was like, ‘I have to let this happen.’”
Badruddin said he was excited to bring something new to DeKalb. Crumbl’s weekly changing cookie menu that features six new cookies each Sunday, makes him optimistic for its success.
NIU students agreed, including graduate student Jenna Lewey who said she was excited to have a Crumbl closer to NIU.
“They’re really good,” Lewey said. “I think that also makes it fun too, that they’re like, more than just an average cookie.”
In the meantime, Badruddin said he has plans for his next Chicago location, right in the home of the Chicago Cubs, but he plans to focus on the DeKalb store’s opening.
“I’m building one (Crumbl store) right now at Wrigley field,” Badruddin said. “I’m a die hard Cubs fan, you know, so it’s just a dream come true. I have to build one at Wrigley and in my hometown so, can’t beat that.”
Crumbl Cookies’ hours are between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. The store is closed on Sunday.
