You may have had a rough summer trying to satisfy your sweet tooth, at least when it came to getting Hot Box Cookies. The popular cookie shop closed down over the summer as it moved to its new location two blocks west of its former, smaller location on Broadway.

“I’ve been wanting this to be reopened for sometime now,” MU junior Rod McIntosh says. “It was closed all summer. I was so mad I couldn’t get them.”

Corey Rimmel, the owner of Hot Box, says the move wasn’t necessary, but it was a good business decision.

“The location is better for a variety of reasons,” Rimmel says. “The kitchen is bigger, so we can handle more orders. At the old location, we were packed. There’s parking, better business neighbors like Jimmy John’s, El Rancho and Red Mango. Even though it’s two blocks away, it’s a huge difference.”

A larger kitchen means the cookies can get out the door and into mouths faster.

One noticeable difference between the new location and the old is the lack of box art on the walls. The old location had art drawn on boxes covering almost every inch of the walls, whereas the new one has bare white walls. One Hot Box employee says that would change once they settle down a bit.

While the wait over the summer might have felt intolerable for cookie connoisseurs, some students such as MU senior Charles Collins still recognize the convenience the store provides now that it is reopened.

“It’s good for the community, the student body,” Collins says. “It’s convenient. They deliver, which is even more convenient.”

Rimmel, meanwhile, is just relieved that the move is over.

“It’s a long process getting the store reopened,” Rimmel says. “I’ve had quite a few things slow us up.”

Rimmel says Hot Box would have loved to have opened at the start of the school year. “We’re open now, so I’m happy.”

When it comes to cookie flavors, Collins and McIntosh weighed in on their picks:

“I’d probably say snickerdoodle is my favorite,” Collins says. “I just like the batter they use. It tastes so good.”

McIntosh was much more definitive, saying his favorite by far is cookies & cream.

“It’s just that good,” he says.

As for the owner’s personal preference, his comes down to a little more than taste.

“Cookies & cream — I love the taste of all the cookies,” Rimmel says. “Chocolate is my favorite taste, but cookies & cream is so unique. Everything is made from scratch, we use real butter, Nestlé chocolate chips, real eggs (and) pure vanilla extract.”

Rimmel then went on to describe that although you can find other chocolate chip cookies in town, as far as cookies & cream cookies are concerned, “in Columbia, it’s ours.”

Hot Box’s namesake remains the same, though.

“They’re made to order, so customers get them fresh out the oven,” Rimmel says. “And we’ll deliver them.”