Alright a while back I started a journey where I’m eating my way up Main Street, one restaurant and shop at a time. Right now I’m going to show my age and quote WMBD’s morning radio man, Bob Carlton, from days gone by and simply say: “And today...you’re gonna get a cookie!” Having said that...let’s go get a cookie.

Off we go into the bright wild blue yonder. I really need to look into getting some prescription sunglasses.

Here we are at Cookies by Design, the next local Main Street business that we’ll be taking a bite out of.

Check out the Easter Bunny cookies in the window. I think I might make like Hugh Hefner and eat a Bunny today!

The sign says that they are, OPEN...

So let’s go inside and start this third edition of “Eating Peoria, One Street At A Time.”

It’s nice in here and it smells like cookies! I love the smell of cookies in the morning, it smells like...cookies.

Here’s the owner of Cookies by Design, Tom Dunne. Tom’s a nice guy and his grandfather, also named Tom, was a city alderman for over twenty years. His father, Dick worked in real estate in Peoria, so his family has quite a history with Peoria.

He runs the store with his wife, Selena, who’s the co-owner. Selena told me that the cookies are baked fresh daily and there’s also coffee, muffins, candy and other treats to be had in here.

Tom and Selena need somebody to boss around in here and that somebody is faithful employee, Jodi. Okay, we’ve met everyone, let’s take a look around in here.

Cool displays of specialty cookies are all over the store. You can buy single cookies, or by the box. And of course all kinds of gift baskets are available.

There’s cookies on shelves...

And on tables. These ones have a sports theme to them.

It looks like they’ve made a whole display for Bruce Springsteen! Something to feed that hungry heart I guess. Oof!

You can sit over here, eat cookies and watch the world go by on Main Street. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!

Here’s a silhouette shot from the back of the store.

They make cookies for every holiday in here and this shelving unit spotlights some of them.

Here’s some Halloween cookies on display. Boo! Radley.

Looking at these St. Patrick’s Day cookies reminds me of how glad I am that I stayed inside and missed that whole thing. I’m not a big fan of St. Patrick’s Day. It’s kind of like New Year’s Eve for me, a day to stay inside, lock the door and get rip-roaring drunk all alone.

And here’s the Easter cookies! I am a big fan of Easter, it reminds me that summer is just around the corner. And I’m sure looking forward to summer this year! I know I didn’t mention it at all on the blog here, because I don’t like to complain, but this winter really sucked monkey lungs on toast and that’s all I’m going to say about that!