Webb Plaza

International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the achievements, skills, and courage of women across the world. In honor of International Women’s Day, we at Webb Plaza would like to highlight one of our business’s extraordinary founders, Eileen Harmon, the enterprising Nebraska woman who built Eileen’s Colossal Cookies from her own basement.

Eileen’s passion for the art of dessert decoration was born from a universal but often underappreciated aspect of parenting—the desire to make something our kids will enjoy. Eileen wanted to create fun and appealing cakes to make her two sons’ birthdays extra special, so she signed up for a cake decorating class to learn how to make art out of frosting. But cakes did not quite turn out to be her flavor. While in Omaha, she spotted large, decorated cookies while shopping at the Cookie Factory, and was inspired. She went back to her home and, from the kitchen in her basement, she baked a few of her mother’s old cookie recipes, and took flight. Although Eileen and her husband, Tom, both worked selling real estate at Gartner Realty, Eileen’s father’s company, she decided to start a bakery. Because she worked from her basement, she recognized the need for a bold approach to build a customer base and promote her business, so she got creative. She started by paying for ads to run in the newspaper that offered deliveries of her cookies for a very reasonable price. But that wasn’t enough to spread the word, so Eileen decided to offer a special treat—free delivery in a cookie monster costume. Soon she had a route established for making deliveries daily to local stores that sold her plain 6-inch cookies as well as a growing base of customers that loved her high-quality cookie flavors and creative decorations.

After a year and a half of managing her cookie business, baking, and decorating in her basement, it was apparent that a change was necessary; Eileen and her family recognized that it was time to expand. The family opened the first Eileen’s Colossal Cookies shop in their hometown of Hastings in 1983. As Eileen had begun in her basement kitchen, the business baked all cookies from scratch, and offered to create any custom design that customers requested. This, alongside the delicious taste and inexpensive price, helped Eileen’s business to blossom steadily. In 1987, another shop was opened in Grand Island, Nebraska, and then another in Kearney, Nebraska in 1991. This was the springboard that opened the door to a franchising opportunity. Today, Eileen’s Colossal Cookies has spread into twenty-six different locations in nine different states, and, despite growing exponentially, has remained faithfully tied to Eileen’s family over the decades. Eileen’s two sons, Gabe and Tony, have both held managerial positions in the business since the 2000s, running the operations of the various locations and directing the franchise, respectively. Eileen’s Colossal Cookies continues to be a thriving business and frequently gives back to the community through a fundraiser program. The designs crafted by the Eileen’s skilled decorators have occasionally made the news, including one frosting depiction of Jason Kelce just before his viral, intentional tumble from a suite window at a Kansas City Chiefs game. Any design you can think of, Eileen’s skilled decorators are ready and eager to craft your idea to life in the form of a giant cookie! Eileen’s innovative spirit still dances in the high-quality of the dough and the playful, artistic decorations.

It is stories like these, of determination, innovation, and hard work, that inspire others to grow their passions into something more. Webb Plaza is honored to host exceptional women-founded businesses like Eileen’s Colossal Cookies.