“OK, I surrender! I have spent at least 4 hours since returning home staring at websites touting RubySnap cookies. These tasty treats are sold in what is described as a “retro chic” flagship store at 770 South 300 West Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have not begun to exhaust the websites devoted to this masterseller, but the internet has exhausted me. Tami Mowen Steggell is clearly a marketing genius.
I should have known I was in danger as I approached this flagship store. We entered it with a woman from California who was about to have her umpteenth encounter with the RubySnap world. She told us that she makes special trips to Salt Lake City to satisfy her sudden cookie urges.
Tami Steggell has a degree in Architectural Design from Brigham Young University, but her real skill is clearly selling cookies. Originally from Arizona, Tami has put down deep and lasting roots in Salt Lake City. Her cookie creations are available in this flagship store and in several other locations. When a customer such as I protests yet another sample or questions this store’s cookie output, he or she is reminded that they never stop making cookies here. The trays I stared at were almost all full of tempting-looking cookies.
Many visitors to this shop call it their favorite. The many cookie sellers on the other side of the trays spend their time both selling cookies and handing out free samples. They are especially generous with product and easily recognize serious cookie weaknesses. Websites are full of avid testimonials. Becky S, for example, says she was in Salt Lake City on a work trip when she was told about RubySnap. She went and got 12 cookies to take home to California and has, like the other woman from California whom we talked to, become a repeat customer.
Every RubySnap cookie has a girl’s name on it. There’s are best-selling cookies named Margo, Lola, and Betty. Someone told me that each cookie is named for someone the owner of RubySnap actually knows. I don’t doubt this but have not yet found proof.
Tami sells bake-at-home cookie doughs and promotes them by reminding purchasers that “your house is going to smell soooo good”. Each month a new cookie is featured. This is marketing savvy if I every encountered it. Walking into the flagship store near Salt Lake City’s downtown is like walking into a 1950s ice cream parlor someone said. This is so true!
Have a cookie without thinking about calories. All of the photos above are from a RubySnap website. I will feature my own photos later.
Hank
Security Conscious 