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Chip City Cookies, a New York City-based company offering cookies that clock in at more than a third of a pound, will open a Harvard Square location at 1 Brattle Sq. in July — the latest business seeking to sweeten up the Square.
The new location will be the third Massachusetts outpost for the company, which has 37 locations dotting the East Coast.
The chain, founded in 2017 by Peter Phillips and Theodore Gailas, offers a rotating cookie menu that features its five top sellers — chocolate chip, s’mores, cookies and cream, confetti, and dairy-free chocolate chip — alongside a range of other options.
The rotating offerings include cookie flavors inspired by other desserts, such as baklava and cinnamon roll, nods to favorite snack items like the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and even a “cookie butter cookie,” — something Gailas called “cookie-ception.”
“We make these giant ooey-gooey cookies. Crispy on the outside, gooey in the center,” Gailas said of his company’s product. “They’re pretty big. They’re about five and a half ounces each.”
Chip City began as a side gig for the cofounders, whose initial location in Queens, NY was only open a few days a week. After amassing a devoted following of cookie-lovers, the pair expanded to new cities but stayed focused on their signature product.
“We take pride in our ingredients,” Gailas said. “I think that’s what sets us apart.”
However, Chip City will not be the only cookie purveyor in the Square when they land in July. Insomnia Cookies, a campus mainstay on Mt. Auburn St., will also be vying for cookie fiends’ dollars.
Unlike Insomnia, which is open through 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, Chip City’s Boston location closes at 10 p.m. daily, and the new outpost is likely to be no exception.
Still, competition in the Harvard Square cookie business is nothing to worry about, according to Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, who likened the situation to the market for pizza.
“There are a whole bunch of Harvard kids who absolutely love Pinocchio’s. And then there’s another whole set that really love Joe’s. And there’s another whole set that think that Otto is absolutely the best or that Oggi Gourmet is the best,” Jillson said.
Jillson said she expects that just like the pizza restaurants did, Insomnia and Chip City will each settle into their own niche and be successful.
According to Jillson, cookie customers will “benefit” from having two cookie shops in the Square.
“When there’s competition, everybody sets that bar just a little bit higher,” Jillson said.
—Staff writer Michael A. Maines can be reached at michael.maines@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @m_a_maines.
