8/13/2016
Kate Patrick, RRStar

ROCKFORD — Bella Luna Bakery is ahead of the game when it comes to Pokemon GO. The bakery started making Pokemon GO cookies last month, selling 10 dozen in just a couple of hours at the Rockford City Market on July 22. The sugar cookies — iced to look like Pokeballs or the Pokemon character Pikachu — have boosted Bella Luna's sales and demonstrated that there is money to be made in Pokemon merchandise, something larger retail chains like Wal-Mart and Target haven't figured out yet. Listicles explaining where to find and buy Pikachu plush toys, Pokemon GO bracelets, Pokemon T-shirts, and other merchandise are popping up all over the internet. According to one article on VG 24/7, a website that tracks video game news, one Pokemon-related item has sold on eBay every 12 seconds since the Pokemon GO app launched. TheStreet.com reported in July that despite the Pokemon craze, stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's, and J.C. Penney aren't carrying a lot of Pokemon merchandise — even though Wal-Mart told TheStreet that online search queries for Pokemon-related products had doubled in July. But Bella Luna's co-owners, Polly Matranga-Happach and Lorie Parker-Weinrich, figured out pretty fast that making their own Pokemon product would be a moneymaker. Their Pokemon cookies sell twice as well as the Rockford 815 sugar cookies that were Bella Luna's previously most popular baked items. July 2016 sales were up 50 to 75 percent from July 2015, the owners said. One night at the Rockford City Market, where the cookies made their debut, Happach said she had to run back to the bakery to make more cookies because they were selling so fast. "Kids were dragging their parents up to the booth," Happach said. "There's a need, and we'll provide it." The bakery, located inside Stewart Square at 308 W State St., is part of the Stewart Square Pokemon "gym," which is a battleground arena within the game where Pokemon GO players form teams and fight to claim the gym. When Pokemon GO players enter Stewart Square, Bella Luna has two big signs directing them to the bakery where they can purchase Pokemon cookies while battling for possession of the gym. Happach said the game is bringing people downtown who have never been before, and they don't just buy Pokemon cookies. Once they're in the bakery, many see Weinrich's cheesecake and buy that, too. "We're building a whole new clientele," Happach said. And it's not just kids — adults buy the cookies, too. "Even the jurors buy Pokemon cookies," Weinrich said. Happach said they often can't keep enough Pokemon cookies in the shop to meet demand, even though she and Weinrich bake two to three dozen of the cookies each day. The bakery's growth — augmented by the success of the Pokemon cookies — has prompted the pair to buy a phone for the bakery and opt out of the second City Market session this year. Before setting up an official store phone, Happach and Weinrich took bakery calls on their personal phones. "We're doing really well, even on the slow days," Weinrich said. But themed cookies aren't new to Bella Luna. Before they had their own storefront, Happach and Weinrich sold themed cookies at the first Rockford City Market in 2010 to lure customers to their booth. "That was the big part of making the market work, to engage with people," Weinrich said. "A smile helps." The bakery won the Best New Business Award of Rockford 2012, and in 2013, Happach and Weinrich moved into Stewart Square. They bake all day so everything in their bakery is fresh, and they bake in small batches, not in bulk, so rarely is anything in the display case a day old. The interior is decorated with black-and-white photos and vintage signs, indicating that Happach and Weinrich were ahead of more trends than just Pokemon GO. "We put up old photos before we knew it was popular," Happach said. Even though Pokemon cookies are enough to lure game players into the bakery, Happach and Weinrich said they plan to buy the game's "lures" so more players will come to the bakery to catch Pokemon characters. "It was one of those things where we said, this is a good idea, let's run with it," Weinrich said. "And we ran with it," Happach added. Kate Patrick: 815-987-1242; kpatrick@rrstar.com; @katepatrick_


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