A pretzel business born out of pandemic boredom has finally found a permanent home in downtown Selma. Knotty Chix, the twisty-dough venture started by Viviana Sisneros, has opened a brick-and-mortar store at 1920 High Street, across from Lincoln Park, after years of selling through pop-ups, farmers markets and social media orders.
From Home Kitchen to Storefront
Sisneros began making pretzels after local malls closed or imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Mid Valley Times. What started as a pandemic-era side hustle grew as she sold Hot Cheeto pretzels through social media, and the flavor has remained a staple of the menu ever since. Other outlets reported the business took shape earlier, with abc30.com noting that Sisneros and her wife started the operation in June 2020, obtaining the building that August.
That early timeline wasn't without its hurdles. According to hanfordsentinel.com, the couple rented space at 1920 High St. in 2020 but had yet to move in, operating instead out of their home while renovations were pending. A separate report from fresnobee.com described Knotty Chix as a mobile pretzel seller that had signed a lease at the corner of High and Second streets to open its brick-and-mortar location; the two accounts describe the storefront's address differently.
A Growing Menu Built on Community Input
Over the years, the shop's flavor lineup expanded well beyond its Hot Cheeto original. The hanfordsentinel.com report listed a wide spread of offerings at the time, including classic plain and salted pretzels, raisin, street corn, caramel, S'mores, pepperoni, jalapeno, marzipan and la lechera. Sisneros has continued developing new flavors using community suggestions, per Mid Valley Times, with the current menu also featuring fruity pebbles, cake batter and a knotty pickle option.
She's now experimenting further. On October 20, Sisneros worked on a capirotada-inspired pretzel, drawing from the traditional Mexican treat reminiscent of bread pudding, Mid Valley Times reported. She hasn't decided whether it will become a permanent flavor for sale and said she'll continue tweaking the recipe. As Sisneros put it, pretzel flavors could be endless.
Built on Word-of-Mouth and Local Support
Knotty Chix gained traction online well before it had a storefront, buoyed by word-of-mouth, social media buzz and the duo's charitable pretzel donations to local law enforcement and first responders, according to the hanfordsentinel.com report. At one point the business had racked up more than 1,300 Facebook likes and hundreds of Instagram followers, and it was turning out anywhere from a few dozen to more than 100 pretzels a day depending on demand, the same account noted.
Before its storefront opened, Knotty Chix planned to continue selling at pop-up events and farmers markets.
Sisneros's storefront is open for customers to buy pretzels now, though the business is still assessing daily foot traffic and completing its remaining committed events for 2026. Store hours could still change.
A New Chapter on High Street
The new location marks a move from a pandemic-era home business to a storefront on Selma's High Street.
