What Happened To All The Mrs. Field's Cookie Stores In Malls?

From the 1980s until the early 2000s, Mrs. Fields Cookies could be found in nearly all American shopping malls, where they served up warm, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and other treats. Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find any standalone storefronts from the venerable brand at the same time as many malls and shopping centers have also gone by the wayside.

Founded in 1977 by Debbi Fields, the first Mrs. Fields' Chocolate Chippery was opened in Palo Alto, California. As the story goes, business was slow on opening day, so Fields took it upon herself to bring some cookies to the people, offering fresh samples on the street and drawing customers in. The trick worked and became a huge part of the brand's ongoing success.

Between 1977 and 1988, the business had boomed to 275 store locations across the United States. At the time, 78% of storefronts were located in shopping malls. Nowadays, Mrs. Fields has also expanded to an international presence in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia, among other countries. But, of the 400 current global locations, most are largely in the form of kiosks, counters, and non-traditional pop-up shops, and most standalone stores have either been shut down or combined with TCBY yogurt counters. 

Per Fortune, since 2014, sales had been falling due in part to the general decline of foot traffic in shopping malls. This is also due to skyrocketing vacancy rates for malls across the United States, largely attributed to the rise of online shopping. At the time, says Fortune, an average Mrs. Fields store needed to sell 200 cookies a day to cover the rent alone. 

It's possible that the decline of standalone Mrs. Fields storefronts can be tied to the general death of the American shopping mall, but of course, ongoing competition among sweet treat purveyors such as Cinnabon, Auntie Anne's, and Wetzel's Pretzels, hasn't helped either.

As a result, Mrs. Fields has had its share of financial ups and downs over the past several decades, with parent company Famous Brands first declaring bankruptcy in 2008 under Chapter 11, and narrowly avoiding bankruptcy again in 2011 when it ceded control of the company to its creditors. Mrs. Fields filed for bankruptcy again in 2018, though it was an intentional decision made with plans to restructure and continue normal operations.

It was around this time that Famous Brands made a joint move and announced that all new Mrs. Fields storefronts would be combined with the frozen yogurt chain TCBY, and franchisees that expanded their stores to offer both cookies and frozen yogurt reportedly doubled their profits almost overnight at a minimal cost. Today, the combo Mrs. Fields and TCBY partnership has been going strong while the cookies can also be ordered via the official website for delivery.