After 25 sweet years, a North Valley cookie shop owner plans her next chapter

Doug Wood was chatting with Barb Hively, owner of Cravin’ Cookies... and More!, under the shade of the business’ front patio on a warm Saturday when he had a sudden realization.

“I just realized you’re short,” Wood said, evaluating Hively’s height.

Wood had only ever seen Hively through the frame of the walk-up window through which she operates her business selling cookies, shortbreads, brownies and the occasional holiday dessert. Many laughs, stories, conversations and goodies have been exchanged through that window, Hively said.

After 25 years of business, Hively has decided to close up shop. She plans to sell the property and retire, wrapping up her last day of business on Sept. 6.

“I want more time to be grandma. My soul has some more chapters in it to do, and it’s time to move on to those,” Hively said. “I still love baking. I still love cookies. I still love talking to everybody on Saturdays. I will miss all of that... but I also like things to transition to their next chapter when it still feels positive and good.”

Hively grew up in a household where baking was the norm. It was something that brought family together and, over the years, became a “healing” practice for Hively and the people she fed, she said.

In the early years of her cookie business, Hively rented out kitchens and hand-delivered the goodies. She purchased her shop at 10420 Fourth NW in 2008.

The 1,582-square-foot shop comes with space for dining, a commercial kitchen, office space and studio space. The property sits on roughly a third of an acre, encompassing a large backyard space for events and an empty next-door lot Hively said could be used for parking or residential use.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the property hosted weddings, fundraisers and community events, and was a gathering place for book clubs, artists and even neighbors seeking internet service.

After a customer crashed into the shop in late 2020, Hively used the downtime during the pandemic to go beyond repairs and make major upgrades. The renovation took about 11 months.

“It’s pretty much almost like a new place, new window, new everything,” Hively said.

The efficiency of the walk-up window that was installed ended up being “a great thing” for the business — and for Hively, who had already started cutting back on hours and days over the years to balance work with the life of a single mom of three.

Hively discovered the window made as much money in one day as the dine-in format had made over the course of four days, prompting her to shift her business model to pick-up only on Saturdays.

Since word of her impending retirement got out, recent Saturdays have drawn in frenzies of regulars, Hively said.

One of those regulars is Joann Sheets, who’s been patronizing the shop for years and said it’s Hively and her daughter, Kara Filipas, who make her Saturdays special.

Betty Pearson, a self-proclaimed “frequent flyer” at the shop, agreed. She said Hively lets her know anytime she makes her key lime pie — Pearson’s favorite.

“They’re so friendly. They’re so outgoing. They’re so willing to help,” Pearson said. “If you’re working and can’t get here (before she closes), she’ll wait on you to come if she knows you’re coming.”

The reason Wood was able to observe Hively’s height a few Saturdays ago was because Hively stepped outside to deliver a replacement pack of cookies to a customer who’d misplaced hers earlier that day. Hively didn’t hesitate to tell the customer to come back and get some more.

Such is a frequent occurrence, according to Filipas, who joked that she mans the register because her mother “would give everything away if she could.”

Marilyn Eifert, Hively’s longtime friend, said it’s Hively’s passion for baking and connecting with people that has made her approach to business special and kept customers returning.

Proving to herself that she could run a long-lasting dessert business has been rewarding, but her greatest achievement is meeting “all the amazing people we have in our cookie family that we wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Hively said.

The Cravin’ Cookies... and More! family only has three more Saturdays to converse through the window while picking up Hively’s homemade red chile chocolate cookies or banana bread.

“We’re all sad,” said Wood, who visits the shop almost every week. “I’ve met so many people here... and I think everybody’s really going to miss this place. It really is a special place.”

Hively said she hopes to sell the property to a chef or someone who won’t let the property’s commercial kitchen go to waste. She said she wants it to go to someone interested in keeping the space alive with food, community and local partnerships.

“I have so many ideas for all the things that could happen here; I’m just not the one to do it,” Hively said. “It’s the right time for a new person to step in here and take it to its next chapter.”

As for Hively’s next chapter, she hasn’t ruled out staying in touch with her cookie-loving circle and doing some baking here and there, but she hopes to spend more time with family, experiment with sourdough, embrace all types of crafting, cultivate old and new friendships, and enjoy a free Saturday for the first time in a long time.

“My heart feels very honored that we accomplished what I set out to do here,” Hively said.