Karen Merz spent the pandemic milling her own flour in her Montclair kitchen, and that hobby has grown into a cookie business that's about to get an actual storefront. Next Level Grains, the e-commerce bakery known for its freshly milled grain cookies, is preparing to open its first brick-and-mortar shop at 47 Watchung Plaza, taking over the former Green Chop's space, with plans to open in December 2026.
Merz began experimenting in the kitchen in 2020, according to njmonthly.com, a period when she started baking more cookies and milling her own flour after finding no local store selling whole grains and resorting to buying them online in bulk. She now runs Next Level Grains as the small e-commerce bakery alongside her day job as a marketing executive for retail brands, per the same account. The shift to a physical shop marks a new chapter for a business that launched its website in May 2026 and has, according to a Montclair Local report, paused online orders while preparing for the store opening.
Merz told Montclair Local that Watchung Plaza embodies community and connection, a sentiment that seems to track with her broader mission. She has said she wants to educate people about the food system and fresh-milled grains, and the new shop is expected to lean into that goal with classes on milling flour and baking with whole grains.
From Jersey City Kitchen to a Montclair Shopfront
Merz's path to a storefront ran through Hudson Kitchen in Jersey City, where she took a food business boot camp course and later baked cookies for sale in the commercial kitchen there, according to njmonthly.com. She currently prepares Next Level Grains orders in a rented Jersey City kitchen, the outlet reports. Merz grew up in Byram, New Jersey, attended Montclair State University, and lived in New York City before settling in Montclair in 2007.
The cookie lineup that built the brand includes three signature items: the Kamookie, a crunchy chocolate chip cookie made with freshly milled khorasan wheat, also known as kamut; the Unikorn, a chip-free cookie made with freshly milled einkorn wheat; and the Whole Oat Cookie, an oatmeal raisin cookie made with whole oat groats and flour that's freshly rolled and milled before baking. Merz is also developing additional cookie varieties, and a six-pack of the Kamookie currently runs $28, per njmonthly.com.
Grain Sourced From a Regenerative Hunterdon County Farm
Merz sources most of her grains from Deb and Jason DeSalvo of Cold Brook Farm in Oldwick, New Jersey, a regenerative farm. Cold Brook Farm describes itself as a family-owned operation in Hunterdon County growing certified-organic grains, cultivating 10.5 acres of heirloom crops using organic, regenerative practices. Kamut, though, isn't something Merz can source locally, because the grain thrives in extremely dry climates; it's grown organically by several farms across the United States instead.
That reliance on both local and far-flung growers reflects a supply chain Cold Brook Farm says it maintains by entrusting its grain to local farmers and mills across New Jersey. For Merz, the new Watchung Plaza shop is expected to feature that full range of product: whole grains, freshly milled flour, groats, rolled oats and granola, alongside the cookies themselves and quick morning-commuter items such as scones, according to Montclair Local.
Taking the Mill-at-Home Concept Beyond Cookies
Next Level Grains already sells more than baked goods. Merz's baking kits include whole grains for families to mill and bake at home, and she's written a children's book to accompany them, njmonthly.com reports. The Grow a Cookie DIY kit lets users mill grains at home using a coffee grinder, and it includes whole grains, chocolate chips, a recipe and the How to Grow a Cookie booklet, requiring only butter, sugar, an egg, vanilla, baking powder and salt from the home cook. A Hudson Kitchen podcast episode describes the kit as pairing DIY milling with an illustrated children's book, tying together the hands-on and educational sides of Merz's business.
For now, Montclair shoppers used to ordering online — where orders placed by Tuesday evening ship to the tri-state area on Wednesday, with local delivery available in Montclair, Verona, Cedar Grove and Glen Ridge — will need to wait for the storefront to materialize. No specific opening date beyond the December 2026 target has been confirmed.
