Metro-east couple brings sweet-smelling cookie franchise to Fairview strip mall
Is there anything more welcoming than the smell of freshly-baked cookies?
That sweet, buttery aroma is what folks can expect when they walk into the new Alibi Cookies location at 5200 N. Illinois St., Suite 107, in Fairview Heights.
This is the second Illinois location for the St. Louis-based company founded by Mike Evans, who was onsite locally to help owners Rozmond and Daphne Dorsey prepare for their June 17 soft opening. The grand opening took place Saturday, June 28.
I stopped in to meet the Dorseys to congratulate them on their new endeavor. I also wanted to learn more about their decision to open a cookie shop.
When I asked Daphne, a former reporter and a public relations specialist, how they came to open the shop, she deferred to Roz.
“I left my job a year ago,” said Roz, who previously worked in ad sales for radio.
He was on the lookout for a new business opportunity while working his current gig as a full-time Uber driver. On a drive through Dogtown, he saw the Alibi Cookies shop, and as someone who “always liked cookies,” he stopped to buy some.
A shop that sells fresh, warm cookies? “I thought it was a brilliant idea,” he said, and asked about franchising.
He reached out to Evans, and when the two were able to connect, Roz told him that he “would love to get a franchise.”
At an October meeting with Evans, Roz told him he and Daphne wanted to wait until January to officially get started and began scoping out potential locations in February.
The Dorseys found what they were looking for in April.
The North Illinois Street location was a former cupcake shop (SmallCakes Cupcakery), so it didn’t need a lot of work to prepare it for their new business.
Satisfying that sweet tooth
So what will one find at Alibi Cookies? Let’s just say there are enough options to make Cookie Monster a very happy Muppet.
Available cookies include classic faves like sugar, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle and chocolate chunk. Candy M&M, s’mores, red velvet, peanut butter chip, lemon white chocolate chip and gluten free chocolate chip make up the other flavors. Deluxe brownies are also on the menu.
Deluxe cookies, which are larger than the regular cookies and have extra toppings or fillings, come in lemon blueberry, peanut butter cup, apple pie, triple chocolate, candy M&M and stuffed peanut butter jelly.
In addition to the cookies, Alibi offers cookie cakes, iced cookies, milkshakes blended with cookies, ice cream, ice cream cookie sandwiches and coffee drinks. Party packs, sampler packs and catering options are available too.
About Alibi Cookies
Alibi Cookies was founded in 2020 by Evans in the kitchen at Pilgrim Congregational Church in St. Louis.
Alibi made its start as a way for Evans to share his love of cookies, beginning as a vending machine operation. The machines, known as “CookieBots,” distribute various flavors of warm, individually-wrapped cookies.
The original store is in St. Louis’ Dogtown and still has an operating CookieBot. Edwardsville welcomed a location at 200 S. Buchanan St. in May 2023. Other stores are located in Kirkwood, Missouri, and in Statesville and Greensboro, North Carolina. Another location is coming soon to Webster Groves, Missouri.
Alibi Cookies Fairview Heights is located at 5200 N. Illinois St., Suite 107. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. For more information, call 618-641-9298 or visit alibicookies.com.
