Local baker leaves day job to run cookie shop full time.
The Riverside Cookie Shoppe is a business in which customers can come in and feel welcomed by the staff. The bakery is known for its chalkboard filled with Scriptures on it and the Christian music playing from its speakers.
Nikki Wyrick, owner of Riverside Cookie Shoppe and Riverside local, has kept the bakery open with the help of her family for three years, and runs the only bakery in Riverside with no other inventory to sell but cookies.
Wyrick said their shop has always relied on God for guidance.
“When I bought the bakery, everything was done by prayer,” Wyrick said. “I was working full time at the county as an executive assistant. So I would come here early in the morning before work. I would go to the office at 7:30 a.m. and come back after I got off.”
Wyrick said there was a point where it was getting busy at the bakery and felt like she needed to be more present in her business.
Wyrick said she prayed about it and told God if they made more than $300 on the next Monday, their slow day, then she would know she was supposed to leave her job at the county. The following Monday the shop made $323.
Wyrick said she felt drawn to look up what Proverbs 3:23 says, “They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble.” That is when she said she knew everything would be OK if she left her job for the bakery.
“When my kids were little, I was a stay-at-home mom so I would just make oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies,” Wyrick said. “That’s what I made all the time. When it came to volunteering at my kid’s school, I would always bring the cookies and people used to fall in love with them.”
Riverside Cookie Shoppe wanted to be original when opening its doors.
“(Riverside) didn’t have a cookie shop and every town needs their own cookie shop. There are cupcakes everywhere but there was no cookie shop,” Wyrick said. “Cookies go way back. Everyone can think of their grandma and think about cookies. Everyone relates cookies to fond memories.”
Wyrick said her passion for baking cookies started with her Easy Bake Oven when she was a child and that it influenced her in opening a bakery.
“Everyone loves cookies,” Wyrick said. “A cookie — the right size and the one you like —there is nothing like it.”
Wyrick said one of her favorite things about her bakery is being able to integrate her faith into her business.
“People are so happy to come in, they sing along to the worship songs, and I always get this amazing presence when you know that other believers are in. Even if they are not believers, they are feeling the presence of God anyway,” Wyrick said.
Wyrick said she is proud that every cookie is made from scratch and are never frozen. This sets the Riverside Cookie Shoppe apart from other bakeries. The smell of freshly baked cookies fills the shop and hits customers as soon as they open the doors.
California Baptist University students said they enjoyed the cookies.
“I love the cookies (from Riverside Cookie Shoppe), they are so fluffy and left me wanting to go buy more,” said Kelsie Shackles, freshman nursing major.
Wyrick recommends “The Riverside Cookie” — a lemon cookie dipped in dark chocolate with orange zest on top — to all her costumer.
The Riverside Cookie Shoppe, located at 6737 Brockton Ave, hopes to see more customers come in and share its passion with the community of Riverside.
