Amanda Arrington, a local mom of six who got her start baking from her home kitchen, is now opening Florida’s first Chip Cookies this weekend at Estero Crossing. 

“I’m a big sweets person,” Arrington said. “Once I tasted their cookies, I was hooked.” 

The 1,333-square-foot shop, 10171 Estero Town Commons Place, Unit 305, will have a standard four flavors, which are the OG chocolate chip, a Biscoff chip, sugar chip and the SW chip, which is a cookie with semi-sweet chocolate wafers and topped with sea salt. In addition, there will also be a weekly rotating flavor offered. 

“When you fall in love with it, we have it, it’s always there,” Arrington said of the flavors that are always offered. “For people who like to test the waters, we have the weekly rotating cookie, which will be a different cookie every week. I just like the idea of when I like something, I can go get it.” 

While the flavors were enough to hook Arrington, Chip’s cookie bar is unique in comparison to other shops that have opened in the Southwest Florida market. While fresh-baked cookie shops are typically meant to satisfy cravings delivered right to customers’ doors, the cookie bar will make a trip to Chip worthwhile.  

“You can go in, and essentially we’ll have the four original flavors, and then we’ll have two other flavors,” Arrington said. “You can infuse them with condensed milk or salted caramel, then you move to the next section, and you can do whipped cream on top, and then top it with a bunch of toppings. It’s a different experience. You can create something different every time, if you want to.” 

The cookie bar concept was born out of Chips beginning, which started out with just chocolate chip cookies. “The way they thought about it was, if we’re just going to have one cookie on the menu, it has to be the best cookie you’ve ever had,” Arrington said. 

In addition to the four standard flavors, the cookie bar will also have what Arrington describes as a boneless cookie, or a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips that guests can dress up with a variety of options from fillings to toppings. There also will be a cocoa chocolate cookie offered at the cookie bar.  

Infusions range from condescend milk to Nutella and warm caramel. The next step would either be a whipped cream topping or cream cheese icing before getting to the tasty toppings, including M&M’s, sprinkles, white chocolate pearls and toasted coconut.  

Toppings also will change sometimes depending on the weekly rotating flavor cookie. Vanilla ice cream is offered for those who like the mix of warm, gooey cookies with cold and sweet ice cream.  

A single cookie is $3.99, a pack of four is $12.99 and a 12-pack is $34.99. Chip also offers 9-count mini options with the OG and sugar chip cookies. 

Prior to Chip, Arrington would make decorative cookies for events, such as baby showers, weddings and graduations from her home baking business.  

As Arrington’s home business began to grow, it became increasingly difficult to manage considering a personal event stopped her from making cookies for a while. It wasn’t until she walked into a gourmet cookie delivery shop that she realized a storefront was the perfect next step. 

After researching many franchises, Chip was the brand she connected with the most. 

“Their story was very relatable,” Arrington said. “They have a lot of kids. I have a lot of kids. It just fit.” Chip founders Sarah and Shawn Wilson created Chip out of late-night pregnancy cravings in 2016.  

However, it wasn’t just the Wilsons’ story that was impactful for Arrington.  

“I looked at all the pictures, and their attention to detail really caught my eye just from their logo to their boxes,” Arrington said. “I decided to reach out to them and start the whole process. I flew to Salt Lake City to try the cookies, and when I walked in the store and tasted the cookies, I knew I wanted to bring Chip to Florida.” 

With Arrington’s youngest child in first grade, her endeavor with Chip Cookies will set an example that her kids can have fun doing something that they’re passionate about, but also make some money doing it. 

Chip Cookies’ grand opening is from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday. A free cookie will be offered to all guests, with a live DJ, a balloon artist and a face painter. The first 10 people in line for the grand opening will receive a gift card for a year of free cookies. 

The weekly flavors will begin the following week, with cookies and cream being the first in the rotation. 

Chip will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, closing at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m. on Sundays.