For a year, anyone wishing to get some of the Peninsula's best-tasting jumbo cookies would head to the small farm stand at 7977 Polo Park Crescent.
It was a common place for Central Saanich employees to stop during their break, a place where children would go after swimming or hockey practice and where bike groups would go to snap pictures and have a cookie or two.
The Cookie Corner was a real neighbourhood gem, say owners Paula and Derk Wevers who built their farm stand on a whim.
“I wasn’t 100 per cent sold on the idea of a stand when my husband suggested it because we have horrible weather here," says Paula, sharing she had thought the stand wouldn't "last long."
They ended up getting a shack in front of their house and on Dec. 1, 2023, sold their first batch of jumbo cookies.
The four- to five-inch cookies, Paula points out, are a novelty for everyone, not just young children.
“They walk in and you could sometimes hear people going, ‘Oh my God look at this one, look at that one.' It was just fun.”
The Cookie Corner shack offered a variety of lemon, peanut butter, ginger, chocolate bar cookies and snickerdoodles. They were so quickly sold out at $2.50 apiece that the Wevers were unable to meet the demand.
“It was wonderful, but it got very busy,” Paula says. “We were up till midnight or 1 a.m., packing cookies just to keep up for the next day. And that’s just one day.”
Due to the high demand for their cookies, the cookie-preneurs posted an announcement on their shack on Dec. 6 that they would be closing the roadside farm stand.
"I've had a great time meeting so many of you and having The Cookie Corner open. I've saved your emails, notes, well wishes and I'm excited for the next stage."
Paula disclosed that even though the farm stand has closed, they will be making more cookies, this time from a kitchen that will enable them to bake more and meet the demand.
“I'm still gonna be making cookies and doing orders for customers, hopefully down the road dealing with businesses that want to sell the cookies as well,” she shared. “When you have a farm stand, legally you're not supposed to fill orders and do that sort of thing so with a Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) kitchen, I'll have a business license and I’ll be able to fill orders.
This January, The Cookie Corner will bake the same mouthwatering jumbo cookies that the community has grown to love under the new name "Cookie Corner Cookies."
They are currently working to update their online platforms to give all their loyal and new customers an opportunity to order their jumbo cookies.
“We are very grateful to everyone who came to the shack and very fortunate to have it for a year. We’re still in shock at the response, when all we wanted was to just bake some good cookies to share with the community.”
The Wevers say it’s not about the money, but the connection that kept them going.
“That's why our motto became, 'Making people smile one cookie at a time.'”
