Bakery leaves Campustown with purchase of former flower shop Downtown
Peoria, IL — Bouquets of cookies are now available where flowers once bloomed in Downtown Peoria.
The 317 Main Street location, once occupied by Carol’s Flowers but vacant for a dozen years, is now home to Cookies By Design, an outlet that recently moved from the Campustown Shopping Center.
Tom and Selena Dunne, who have operated the Peoria franchise since 1996, made the move last month after losing their lease at the Campustown location. Rather than take another lease at the shopping center, the Dunnes decided on something more permanent with the Downtown site.
“We felt it was a good investment,” said Tom Dunne, noting the couple purchased the building at 317 Main St. from Jim Simantel for $645,000.
The building purchase also includes three loft apartments – there’s one vacancy – and the Roly Poly restaurant next door to the cookie shop.
“I think we came in at the right time,” said Dunne of the Downtown move. He said he spent more than $50,000 to install counter space and the new kitchen, complete with a blue-and-white floor pattern, the colors of his alma mater, Limestone High School.
