By Gus Saltonstall
The Upper West Side Chip City cookie shop permanently closed on Friday morning, an employee who picked up the phone around 9 a.m. confirmed to West Side Rag.
Two hours later, the store was surrounded by officers of the NYPD Evidence Collection Team.
The closure of the cookie outpost at 370 Columbus Avenue, between West 77th and 78th streets, is part of the chain’s decision to close all stores nationwide, Chip City announced on its Instagram Friday.
“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 City Chip locations,” the cookie business announced. “We are grateful to all of our dedicated employees and loyal customers who have supported us for the past 10 years.”
When the Rag visited the Upper West Side Chip City around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, there was nobody at the store. When we returned around 11:30 a.m., the police officers had arrived.
Specifically, there were multiple officers from the NYPD Evidence Collection Team. An officer was in the midst of photographing the front of the store, and inside the business.
A man with a bike was talking to the officers and filling out a document or form.
When the Rag approached one of the officers to ask for more information about what was happening, the man with the bike said, “Please, please don’t talk to the media.”
In customary fashion, the officers then told the Rag they couldn’t talk and to please reach out to the NYPD’s press department.
WSR reached out to the NYPD’s press team, which said that someone reported seeing two people on a security camera enter the Upper West Side Chip City around 2:30 a.m. on Friday and remove an “unknown amount of U.S. currency.”
There have been no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing. There is no immediate connection between the location’s permanent closure and the reported burglary.
On September 28, days before the New York City Chip City closures, Chip City’s co-founder and former CEO Peter Phillips filed a lawsuit against the business alleging a dispute over the handling of his compensation and matters related to small business loans after he says he stepped down from the CEO role in March 2026.
There is nothing in the lawsuit that connects to Chip City’s decision to close stores, but the timing is notable.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
They confirmed on Instagram that they’ve closed ALL locations, blaming “significant macro-economic headwinds.”
Fake news. Donnie from queens tells me our economy is the envy of the world.
Something unusual is happening here. Why would an “evidence collection team” appear at an economic business story? Is this a criminal matter?
Other media across the tristate suggest Gus may have secured the scoop that could drive further developments and elevate the story—stay tuned.
money laundering?
Commonly, managers and employees loot a biz that is about to disappear.
Read the article. There was a burglary there at 2:30 AM. Police investigation has nothing to do with the store closing. Yet.
Never even heard of Chip City. That being said, I hope they served their last remaining cookies to the NYPD for free.
Why? Cops get enough handouts in this city as it is. Plus, per their latest fitness assessment, they could use fewer donuts and cookies.
Wow Claire! Such disdain for our men in blue! May you never need to call on them!
An impressive combination of entitlement and ignorance
Wow you seem to have forgotten the crowds screaming to “defund the police!” pretty quickly. I love the NYPD and always say good morning when I pass them on my commute. I can’t imagine doing their jobs in full gear down in the subways in August when its 110 degrees on a platform. I send over dessert whenever I spot a table of officers at the Metro diner
“I guess that’s”
{slowly takes off sunglasses}
“How the cookie crumbles.”
Winner!
“Sic crustulum friat.” Thus crumbles the cookie.
Methinks the culprits will soon be identified. If they are not the standard burglars, then this could turn out to be quite interesting.
Almost certainly an inside job. Some aggrieved employee or employees had advance knowledge of the shutdown and decided to take what they could. No signs of forced entry in the photos, amateur hour.
Agreed…perhaps the former CEO who quit and filed suit – citing his compensation as one of the motivating factors in his stepping down – might know something about the robbery
My guess is store manager or someone was taking cash as they knew business was going to close and they may not have been paid. If chip city is going to file bankruptcy that money would have been seized.
I used to work for them , They owe me at least 300 dollars in unpaid labor. I’m happy they shut down, hope they get sued to hell.
It was a magnet for after school kids, was very loud outside the store and you couldn’t even walk down the sidewalk. Will not be missed.
God forbid kids buy cookies and have fun! Scoundrels!
Yeah, but what kind of fun? The kind of fun that involves eating cookies, or hitting up pedestrians for money and acting all thuggery?
Nobody was acting “all thuggery”. Anderson and Computer middle-schoolers enjoying their cookies after school.
Look today at the physical condition of teenagers . You may change your mind.
Sounds like an inside job. Maybe employees weren’t paid and they didn’t want to be left without compensation.
I LOVED their cookies. Been a member since day one. They typically send promotional text, and nothing to indicate the end of an era. Maybe too much too fast. Unlike other NYC cookie shops, they had tons of locations in at least 4 of the 5 boroughs. They were washing more than the cookie sheets in there.
Money laundering would be far more likely to be handled by both the NYPD and the FBI, especially if more than one state is believed to be involved
Why would you say such a thing? What conceivable evidence do you have to make such a charge?
Previous ceo is suing new management.
Money laundering operation?
Seems like any national retail chain looking to make a mark in NYC have to follow whatever is working for Trader Joe’s. Location is everything. Too many businesses are up and leaving the UWS.
They started out in NYC, the first store was in Astoria. Seems more like their problem was overexpansion. At one point they had 50 stores in 9 states, including opening 30 locations in a two year period. There’s also a messy lawsuit happening with one of the founders.
Chip City – or City Chip as you cite in the company’s communique?
Small Time Crooks.
they couldn’t have waited until after I scored my birthday cookie? (I’m not actually all that upset, as there were only a couple of their items that weren’t disappointing)
There’s fast food, and then there’s FAT food. Who’s buying 2,000 calorie cookie sandwiches and whole milk?
Normal kids and teenagers. Not everyone is living on under 1200 cal/day nor should they.
There is more to this. Money laundering? Weapons/human trafficking?
War crimes? Glee club? Organic arugula farming? The new and improved 2028 Subaru Impreza Touring? Soft pretzels? North Sea offshore drilling rights? There’s definitely more to this.
I wonder what’s in those cookies?
That is not a typical police response to a commercial burglary of a cookie store. Maybe jewelry or furs, but cookies?
I never heard o this chain or store, but it is not common to leave cash in a store after hours, because of burglary. This sounds not so coincidental, especially if the break in involved equipment or bakery supplies or things suspected of being abandoned.