When you think of Homemakers Furniture, what pops into your mind? If it’s cookies, you certainly are not alone!
Along with a huge furniture showroom and the lowest prices around, Homemakers has become synonymous with irresistible, fresh-baked treats. We’re baking up tons of cookies — literally! — for your enjoyment. Read on to see how we do it!
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The number of varieties available: Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodle cookies and sugar cookies, along with coffee and lemonade, are on offer.
320,220
The number of cookies that Homemakers customers chowed down on in 2014. On average, that’s one cookie for every 41 seconds our doors were open last year.20,014
Pounds of cookie dough we baked up in 2014. Yes, you read that correctly. Homemakers baked more than 10 tons of cookies last year! That’s a lotta dough!$0
The price you’ll pay to partake. Cookies are good. Free cookies? Fantastic!1999
The year we began our cookie giveaway. The idea stemmed from trips to other furniture stores across the country, Homemakers President Dave Merschman says. The enticing scent of fresh-baked cookies greets customers as they enter, offering a welcoming, homey vibe.
Originally, there was a small setup by the front door. Cookies — sugar only, to start — were baked up in a small oven in the employee break room and shuttled out to the front entrance, where customers quickly devoured them. It proved to be a cookie recipe for success!
“It became so popular that we had to hire more people to bake the cookies,” Merschman says.
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The number of staff needed to meet the demand today, including manager Laura Woollard. She joined Homemakers as a cashier in 2002, but became our inaugural cookie manager in 2004 to keep us up to speed with the dizzying pace.
Our cookies took center stage during plans for the store renovation in 2006. The Treat Café was built, offering a dedicated space for Woollard and her staff to ply their craft. Situated between the escalators to the second floor, it’s outfitted with tables, chairs and TVs for the ideal snack spot.
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The number of cookies baked in an oven at once. Woollard says that on weekdays, the staff typically uses two ovens, starting late in the morning and baking non-stop until about 7 p.m. On weekends, they usually fire up four ovens when the store opens and bake until late in the afternoon, depending on how many customers they have.
For Woollard and her staff, the cookie biz is certainly a sweet gig. But it’s the smiling faces that keep them coming back.
“The kids are fun to serve, and listen to how they try to say snickerdoodle and lemonade,” she says. “We hear a lot of nice customer comments about how great the store looks, and how much they enjoy shopping here.”
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