Few things in life are as devastating as losing a loved one, and the closing of Pacific Cookie Company’s hallowed doors today are no exception. Today, Friday 11th, is sadly the last day that Pacific Cookie Company will be open here in Berkeley. The sacred space of savory sweets has recently announced that it will be closing its Telegraph Avenue location in search of a more stable profit, and the Berkeley community is still struggling to cope with the loss. It’s with a heavy heart that we bid farewell to the beloved bakery that we at the Clog love so deeply.
The news that Pacific Cookie Company is closing its Berkeley doors has all of our knickers in a twist. It’s like the sucker punch of getting a C- on a midterm that you totally thought you aced. The feeling you get when you walk out of a lecture hall willing to bet your left kidney that you didn’t miss a single point, only to find out that you’re the one tanking the class average. It’s a devastating disappointment that leaves you in a funk that’s hard to shake and impossible to ignore. Usually, we shake the blues of aforementioned failure with a pick me up treat from Pacific Cookie Company, but those days are fleeting.
A PCC cookie is many of our first memories in college. A delicious chocolate chip fed the butterflies in our stomach on our first night of CalSO, and gave us comfort in a foreign environment. We stampeded into the small storefront with enough nervous energy to fuel a commercial airplane and were instantly soothed by the taste of home. It was love at first bite, and we knew we were exactly where we belonged.
Cookies have become a staple in our unbalanced diets. A cookie on Game Day helped cushion the blow of defeat on the field. While an afternoon indulgence on Friday got us through the week. We’ve never met a cookie we didn’t like, and the 13 types offered have all become some of our closest friends here. We go to ginger spice if we’re feeling feisty, peanut butter chocolate chip for needed comfort, Dr. Midnight for celebration and a snickerdoodle for lunch. We’ll miss all of the scrumptious flavors that are offered and forever hold them near and dear in our hearts.
While there are certainly other places to buy cookies, they’ll never compare to the friendly and generous staff of PCC. The way they have selflessly handed out endless free cookies to hungry college students has them worthy of sainthood. There’s been many an afternoon when a free cookie from PCC served as our lunch to fuel us throughout the arduous school day, a fortune we took for granted. We grew to bank on a free cookie every day and forgot what a privilege it was to be blessed with the dessert of the heavens.
PCC’s generosity wasn’t limited to just giveaways. Its noble involvement in the community with fundraisers for charity has its Samaritan status through the roof. Its “Cookies for Kids Cancer” is clear evidence of the good it does in the world, and we aspire to be as good as it one day. Thank you for making us fall in love with Berkeley; the campus’s close proximity to the mecca of baked goods was one of our first reasons to love the school. Thank you for feeding us at our worst and celebrating us at our best. Thank you for your kindness and cookies.
Always in our hearts, we’ll miss you, PCC.
