No, that long line in the USC Village is not for Dulce, for once.
The long-awaited Insomnia Cookies opened its doors at the university for a soft opening on Tuesday.
Founded in a college dorm at the University of Pennsylvania by former student Seth Berkowitz in 2003, Insomnia Cookies feeds the “craving crowd” with late-night in-store and delivery service.
Insomnia offers a variety of cookies, brownies, ice cream and — as advertised on their website — even cold milk. According to Sailyn Zuniga, district manager at the USC Village location, some of the heavy hitters among USC students are the double mint, s’mores and snickerdoodle cookies.
USC Village marks the 237th Insomnia Cookie location, yet another milestone for the company, one highly anticipated by students.
The plan to open Insomnia Cookies began this past fall.
“The fact that everything finally came to fruition was super exciting and seeing everyone’s face in line and then, at some point, like the entire lobby was full of people and everyone was singing,” Zuniga said.
Karly Ramnani, a freshman majoring in psychology, was one of the first in line at the soft opening Tuesday, arriving three minutes after opening while walking home from their class.
“It felt great [to be the first customer],” Ramnani said. “I got a birthday cake cookie, and I loved how it was served warm and fresh.”
Unlike Ramnani, other students had to endure the cool weather and light drizzle while waiting in the line that only got longer as the day passed. According to Zuniga, the line began to grow at 3 p.m. and persisted until closing.
“I went really late at night, around 9:11 p.m.,” said freshman business administration major Odalys Molina Martinez. After more than a two-hour wait, Martinez was able to order her cookies at midnight.
“[The wait] was definitely worth it,” Martinez said. “It was really satisfying to eat the cookies.”
The line was forced to migrate under the Village housing buildings when it started to rain to avoid getting wet while waiting, Martinez said. But the rain didn’t deter many, and students enjoyed cookies well past midnight.
The grand opening will take place Saturday, Feb. 26 from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. Be sure to sport your pajamas, as Insomnia will be handing out free cookies to anyone who shows up in their PJs.