New sweet shop coming to Morgantown.
A mother-son duo with an established history of making delicious brownies for Morgantown and beyond is setting up shop downtown. If you remember Brownie House from the early 2000s, this might be music to your ears. If the notion is new to you, check them out ASAP.
Q: Tell us about Brownie House.
Christian Higgins: Brownie House is a commercial bakery that bakes and sells gourmet brownies. It was founded by my mom Karen Higgins in 2005 and she operated out of our home kitchen. The business grew quickly in the Morgantown area, and a small commercial kitchen and storefront in downtown Morgantown followed. Brownie House began shipping brownies nationwide for corporate gifts, holidays, and events. In 2008, she was faced with a choice: business needed to expand to a larger baking facility to fill the high demand for her brownies but the expansion came with a significant financial risk. The business was closed.
Today, nearly 15 years later, Karen Higgins and her oldest son, Christian Higgins, have rebranded and reopened Brownie House with capacity to fill orders in high volume. Brownie House is veteran-owned and family-operated. At the outset, we intend to focus primarily on e-commerce to fill orders through our online store with nationwide shipping. Our brownies will also be available for pickup and local delivery, and we will customize large orders for catering and corporate gifts. Later this summer, we intend to open our store front to the public where customers can enjoy our famous brownies in the beautifully restored Seneca Center along the Caperton Trail.
Q: Tell us about your decision that the time was right to reopen the business.
CH: The original Brownie House is a special part of our family’s past. Although the business was closed in 2008, the possibility of someday reopening has always been an exciting topic around our dinner table.
The pandemic highlighted the importance of family and strong community support. As long-time Morgantown residents, we are incredibly proud of our ties to the community. At the tail end of the pandemic, we decided to join the many other local businesses in the full reopening of the local economy. Morgantown’s awesome resilience in the face of challenge is a motivating factor in our decision to rebrand and reopen.
Although the decision to reopen Brownie House was an easy one for my mom and I, such commitment required major life changes. I left my career as a practicing attorney in Philadelphia, and am in the process of relocating back to Morgantown for the first time since leaving in 2014. My mom has also left her career as a registered nurse to pursue her passion for baking and managing the business with me on a full-time basis.
We view these supply chain issues as mere challenges, and we realize that we cannot be successful with anything less than a “can-do” attitude.
What makes Brownie House different and how’d you come up with the concept?
CH: At Brownie House, the care and quality of our brownies is our priority. We always maintain the traditional homestyle taste and appearance which customers love; rather than a mass produced and overly processed brownie that many large e-commerce bakeries sell. Our expertise in gourmet brownie baking is what makes us unique.
We will also offer a new unique flavor of brownie on a regular basis which was a major selling point in Brownie House’s first go in 2005-2008.
Tell us about choosing to locate in the historic Seneca Center. When do you plan on opening to the public?
CH: The original Brownie House was located in the historic brick house on the corner of Spruce and Pleasant streets in Morgantown. We have rebranded our logo to include a picture of the front of that historic house, and we hope that Morgantown residents will recognize our logo as a symbol of our deep ties to, and appreciation for, the city.
Our decision to reopen in the historic Seneca Center was a logical progression for our business. Morgantown is rich with history, and the Seneca Center is one of Morgantown’s many historical landmarks. It is a beautifully renovated building, and our commercial space is located on the ground floor with immediate access to the Caperton Trail which we plan to utilize for our walk-up retail business.
We plan to begin baking and selling for shipping, local delivery, and pickup as early as May, and we plan to open our walk-up retail store to the public this summer just in time for the warm summer weather and local festivities.
What should we try first?
CH: To start, Brownie House will offer seven fun and unique flavors of gourmet brownies, and we plan to add more to the menu soon. Our seven starting flavors will be the Best Ever Original, Best Ever Walnut, Raspberry Bliss, Mint Sensation, Almost Heaven Coconut Almond, Peanut Butter Perfection, and Caramel Indulgence. We also plan to offer fun rotating specials which will be regularly announced via our social media platforms.
Our Best Ever Original brownie is made using an original recipe that was passed down to my mom from her grandmother, and we have maintained its authenticity. Perhaps the “BEO” is a good start for new customers. We use only premium ingredients in our brownies, and we strive to offer a flavor for pretty much every individual.
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I remember her amazing brownies from the original shop and how sad I was to hear the business had closed. Very excited to read this article! Best of luck!