Original Article By: Steph Kukuljan, St. Louis Business Journal

Hot Box Cookies has signed a lease for its fourth St. Louis-area location.

The St. Louis-based dessert brand will open at Plaza Shops in Creve Coeur at 701-747 North New Ballas Road, off Olive Boulevard and Interstate 270. It’s leased 1,400 square feet of space and the store could open by Christmas, depending on city permits, said CEO Ryan Rich.

It will be Hot Box’s fourth St. Louis location and its six overall. It has locations in Clayton; Central West End; Tower Grove South; Lawrence, Kansas; and Columbia, Missouri, where it first launched in 2008. The brand is also planning a location in Kirkwood, as well as expansion into Illinois next year.
Hot Box Cookies was represented by Rick Spector of L3 Corp. in the lease. Pace Properties’ Kate Grewe and Elizabeth Schenk represented the landlord, CH Retail Fund I/St. Louis Plaza Shops LLC.

The retail market in St. Louis reported a 4.5% vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2020 as nearly 148,000 square feet of available space came back on the market. Meanwhile the mid-St. Louis County retail market reported a 2.3% vacancy rate with almost 28,000 square feet of space vacated in the second quarter. Lease rates averaged $20.21 per square foot in mid county and $12.96 per square foot overall in the region, according to Newmark Grubb Zimmer research.