Crumbl is bringing its first permanent bakery to St. Johns County, with St. Augustine's Cobblestone Village shopping center set to house the dessert chain's newest location in a 1,260-square-foot space that once held Hues Hair Salon and, before that, Merle Norman Cosmetics. St. Johns County issued a sign permit for the project on August 24, and the shop will occupy Suite 103 off Florida 312 west of U.S. 1.
The permit, valued at $2,500, was filed by Clearwater-based SignSource, the installer handling the project, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. Crumbl will become Cobblestone Village's 24th tenant, joining a roughly 274,200-square-foot, Publix-anchored center that draws an estimated 3.8 million visits a year, according to Brixmor Property Group, which owns the property. The shopping center's other anchors include Bealls, Burlington, Petco and Michaels.
A Food Truck Paved the Way
Before filing for a permanent storefront, Crumbl tested the St. Augustine market with a mobile operation. The company launched FL Crumbl On Wheels at Cobblestone Village in July, serving rotating weekly flavors Monday through Saturday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., per the truck's Facebook page. The food truck functioned as a trial run for local demand ahead of the permanent buildout, and the Daily Record confirms Crumbl continues to operate the mobile unit at the same shopping center.
Cobblestone Village also sits less than a mile from UF Health Flagler Hospital, a 335-bed medical center named among America's 50 Best Hospitals in 2025, per Brixmor. The hospital functions as a major regional employer and daytime traffic generator for the retail corridor, a detail that likely factored into the site selection.
Growth Chain Meets a Growing County
The new location adds to Crumbl's existing Jacksonville-area footprint, which includes shops in Beach Haven, Mandarin, Oakleaf and San Marco, per the Daily Record. Founded in 2017 in Logan, Utah, by cousins Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley, Crumbl has grown to more than 1,000 bakeries nationwide.
St. Johns County itself has been one of the fastest-growing counties in Florida, adding more than 11,000 residents between July 2024 and July 2025 to reach roughly 346,000 people, according to USAFacts data drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau. The county's population has nearly tripled over the past 25 years, a surge that has helped drive national retail chains toward the area. That growth has coincided with a wave of public spending, as the county completed 61 capital infrastructure projects in 2025 and lined up 59 more for 2026, representing more than $820 million in investment across roads, utilities, public safety and parks, as Hoodline previously reported.
Cookies, Cakes and a Chain Under Pressure
Crumbl officially dropped “Cookies” from its core brand name in 2024 as part of a broader menu push into cheesecakes, pies, puddings, cakes and brownies, according to Food Republic. Even so, the Daily Record reports the chain's signature product still comes in two sizes — a roughly 4.25-inch large cookie and a roughly 2.6-inch mini — sold individually or in multipacks, with flavors that rotate weekly. Crumbl bakeries typically run from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, extend to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and close entirely on Sundays.
The expansion arrives even as Crumbl's franchise system shows signs of strain. Median annual store revenue fell 16.1% year-over-year, from $1,303,412 in 2024 to $1,093,071 in 2025, according to the company's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document reviewed by Franchise Signal, even as estimated startup costs for a new store climbed to between $848,566 and $1,472,533. Despite the softening per-store performance, Crumbl still generated more than $1.3 billion in total system sales in 2025 across over 1,000 locations, according to Restaurant Business, far outpacing rivals like Insomnia Cookies, which brought in under $300 million in system sales over the same period.
That institutional backing extends beyond sales figures. Private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners acquired a minority stake in Crumbl in May 2025 in a deal valuing the chain at roughly $2 billion including debt, backed by $500 million in debt financing, per PE Insights. Crumbl has also broadened its revenue streams by integrating with EzCater's Catering Growth Platform in late 2024, giving franchisees tools to handle corporate and event orders in both mini and full-size formats, Restaurant Business reported.
No opening date has been set for the St. Johns County store, and the identity of the local franchisee has not been disclosed. Interior buildout will follow the sign permit issued this week, though the Daily Record has not indicated a timeline for when Suite 103 will welcome its first customers.
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