Saturday, October 10, 2026
For cookie lovers, a favorite spot for oversized, gooey treats has suddenly disappeared.
Chip City, the New York-based cookie chain known for its thick, chewy cookies and rotating lineup of flavors, abruptly closed all of its remaining locations on Oct. 2, including stores that had served customers in Oceanside and Merrick.
The closure came with little warning. Just a day before shutting down nationwide, the company had introduced a new cookie flavor, making Friday’s announcement even more surprising for customers accustomed to seeing new offerings appear on the menu.
“Despite extensive efforts to stabilize our business in the face of significant macro-economic headwinds, we have made the very difficult decision to close all of our Chip City locations,” the company said in a statement posted on its website. “We are grateful to our dedicated employees and loyal customers who have supported us for the past 10 years.”
Chip City had more than 20 locations remaining when it closed, bringing an abrupt end to a decade of growth that began with a single shop in Astoria, Queens.
The company was founded by childhood friends Peter Phillips and Theodore Gailas, who grew up in New York City and attended Bronx High School of Science. The pair built Chip City from a neighborhood cookie shop into a growing chain with locations across New York and beyond.
The company’s expansion accelerated in 2022, when Danny Meyer, the restaurateur behind Shake Shack, Gramercy Tavern and Daily Provisions, invested $10 million through his investment firm, Enlightened Hospitality Investments. The investment helped Chip City expand outside New York, with stores opening in New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
But the rapid growth was followed by increasing financial and management problems.
On Sept. 28, Phillips sued Chip City, Enlightened Hospitality Investments, Chip City President Nicholas Baizan and Fred LeFranc, who was serving as interim chief executive, alleging breach of contract and wage theft, among other claims.
According to the lawsuit, Phillips agreed to step down as chief executive in March as part of a company restructuring. He was allegedly guaranteed a nine-month consulting contract and continued salary, severance and health insurance during the transition.
The lawsuit claims that the company later began auditing about $900,000 in expenses, including expenses connected to Phillips’ other restaurant ventures and approximately $443,000 sent to a construction company affiliated with him.
The suit alleges that Phillips’ pay was frozen in September after a dispute over company information and that the company moved to terminate him days later.
Representatives for Chip City, Meyer’s company, Baizan, LeFranc, Phillips and Gailas did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit remains ongoing, and it is unclear whether it played a role in Chip City’s decision to close.
The company’s final hours also included an unusual incident at its Upper West Side location. Shortly before 2 a.m. Friday, two unidentified people entered the Columbus Avenue store and removed an unknown amount of money, according to a New York Police Department spokesman.
Hours later, Chip City announced that all of its stores would close. Police continued investigating the incident, and no arrests had been made.
For customers in Oceanside and Merrick, however, the sudden closure means one less place to grab one of the chain’s signature oversized cookies — and an unexpectedly sweet chapter has come to an end.
