By Daphne Morton, Special to the Blog
You may have noticed a new addition to our community on 85th Street across from Fred Meyers. It’s hard to miss with the giant blue and yellow cookie graphics on the windows. That’s right, PhinneyWood is home to the newest of four Lowrider Cookie Company locations. Founder Emily Allport (pictured above) shared with me the story of Lowrider, where it started, and how it came to PhinneyWood. Emily was a pastry chef who began Lowrider as a pop-up at the Burien Farmers Market in 2017. But why cookies? Allport explained that she landed on cookies because she loves them, “you can do all kinds of fun flavors. They’re just happy, everyone loves cookies.”
By 2020, when Covid hit, Lowrider had a Central District shop and a trailer in the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall. Allport explained how she and her staff wanted to find a way to keep working despite the shutdowns. Because Lowrider already used a takeout business model, they were able to pivot. The Central District’s residential location allowed them to still get business; Allport described how “people really came out to support small businesses.” Not only their survival, but their success during this period allowed Lowrider to open their Burien location. From there, Lowrider has only grown more, leading to their most recent location in our very own PhinneyWood.
Allport wanted to open a location in North Seattle for a long time and just hadn’t found the right location. “When this one popped up, I was like, ‘oh, it’s perfect,’ so I just went for it,” she explained. At this point, with Lowrider being a well-established business, Allport said she had the smoothest experience opening the Phinney location out of all of her stores.
Throughout the whole Lowrider journey, Allport’s team has been there making it happen, and she considers her team to be one of her greatest sources of pride. “Remaining a profitable business and retaining a really great staff is hard to do,” stated Allport. It is clear that Lowrider puts it’s staff first. Despite the rocky conditions of Covid and inflation that Lowrider has to navigate, Allport proudly recounts how she never cut any benefits for her staff and that the people on her team enjoy their work. This, she says, makes her really happy.
It’s not just Lowrider’s own staff who the company supports. The cookie company makes monthly donations to Mary’s Place and Burien Cares. Allport shared with me that one of her goals when starting Lowrider was to be able to donate to charities she cared about. These charities were chosen due to their visible impact in the community. Mary’s Place supports women, children, and families struggling with being unhoused, while Burien Cares is a dog rescue. A dog rescue is a fitting charity for Lowrider’s donations as the name ‘Lowrider’ is a tribute to Allport’s two dachshunds. She describes how Burien Cares is just down the street from her home and that the woman who owns it is very near and dear to her. “Being intentional with money and making sure it’s going to places that are important to me, that was always a goal of mine,” she explained.
Lowrider also partners with other local businesses. Allport explains that there is a “built in camaraderie” among Seattle businesses. She says she knows how hard it is to grow and maintain a business and that she works with local businesses to help make sure they get to stick around.
When it comes down to the cookies, Allport says her favorite changes on a day-to-day basis. Chocolate peanut butter chip, one of the August flavors, she is very excited about; “It’s a double chocolate cookie, has peanut butter chips, and sea salt. It’s phenomenal,” she describes.
Of the signature flavors, she recommends the salted toffee pecan. For crispy cookie lovers, Lowrider has ‘little crispies’, their take on a thin, snacking cookie.
You can never go wrong with their most popular items. Top of their list is their classic brown butter triple chocolate chip cookie, “it’s always number one. You can’t beat it,” Allport explains. Another great choice is one of their oatmeal cream pies. Between two oatmeal cookies is Lowrider’s house made vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. Allport says they are popular at every Lowrider location.
Allport shares how excited she is to be in PhinneyWood and that she and the store has received a warm welcome from the community. “We’ve only been there for a few months now, so I’m excited to watch it grow and to see what it does.” So let’s go show our new neighbor, Lowrider Cookie Company, some love.