City Council approved Monday a special use permit for Insomnia Cookies to move into a storefront on Sherman Avenue.

The special use permit will allow the store to be open until 3 a.m. The city had initially halted on the permit because no other store in the area is open that late, but the cookie business is now set to move into the storefront at 1725 Sherman Ave. According to council documents, the store will feature no seating, and is expecting to do half of its business by delivery. Estimates are that 80-100 deliveries will occur nightly between midnight and 3 a.m.

Other stores in the area, such as Blaze Pizza and Starbucks, are open no later than midnight.

David Lasus, chief operating officer of Insomnia Cookies, said at a Planning and Development meeting on Jan. 23 that all of the chain’s 109 locations close at 3 a.m. or later.

“We have a vast clientele that could be business people during the day, families in the afternoon, college students in the evening,” he said.

Lasus said he first scouted out Evanston as a possible home for an Insomnia location four years ago, and waited until he found a property on Sherman Avenue to jump on the chance. At the January meeting, Lasus said he would invite the entire city for a free cookie during the week of the store’s opening.

The cookie business also utilizes live surveillance of all of its stores, Lasus said. The cameras allow the business to assist local police departments in investigations.

“There are many many, many cameras in America but most, if not many, are not monitored,” Lasus said. “We are able to provide the police (with) whatever they need … we take public safety and employee safety to the nth degree.”

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @noracshelly