Cool Stuff owner partners with next-door neighbor, Hot Box Cookies

For the past two years, Corey Rimmel has juggled classes at the University of Missouri and the day-to-day operations of his business, Hot Box Cookies.
Rimmel, along with schoolmates Adam Hendin and David Melnick, launched the downtown business in October 2008 after Rimmel was inspired by a similar business near the University of Indiana campus.
After they graduated, though, Rimmel’s partners were ready to move on. Rimmel plans to graduate in May, but he recently came up with a plan for continuing the business. He and veteran retailer Arnie Fagan bought out his former partners. Fagan started Cool Stuff shortly after he graduated from MU, and now he owns the building housing his business and the building next door, at 808 E. Broadway, where Hotbox is located.

The deal, which closed Jan. 1, will leave Rimmel and Fagan in charge of the shop, which has carved out a niche selling hot cookies to the late-night downtown bar crowd and delivering them around town. The pair declined to disclose a transaction price.
“They had other interests, and I knew I couldn’t do this by myself,” Rimmel said.
Rimmel had asked Fagan, who also runs a commercial real estate company, to help him find a buyer for the company.
“As I introduced people to the idea of buying this shop, I got interested in buying it myself,” Fagan said.
The concept and brand is strong, Fagan said, and he was happy to become a partner if Rimmel stayed involved.
Fagan said he has been streamlining some of the office functions, and Rimmel said the shop has tweaked its recipe and hired more full-time workers. Hot Box is also ramping up its delivery service and hoping to capitalize on daytime office meetings and parties as well as evening deliveries to families.
“I want to assure a long-term, successful tenant,” Fagan said.