Everyone is welcome at Mei Mei's

There have been many stories and articles written about how an individual had a passion ever since they were a little kid and how they were finally able to reach that goal years later. However, Mei Mei's Cookies & Creamery (pronounced Mimi) owner Melissa Abdouch came to find her passion for baked goods, specifically cookies, through a more roundabout way than most.

"I'd love to say this has been a lifelong dream of mine, but that isn't the case. My background is in accounting and I've been an accountant for just over 20 years. After working at my last company for just over 13 years, they outsourced all of our jobs," said Abdouch, who lives in Cottage Grove. "So I took a year to spend with my children and after that I started looking for a job. I wasn't finding what I wanted to do and I found that while I was going through all of that stuff that I was in the kitchen baking cookies as a way to relax. Once I realized that, I started to think, 'Why can't I do this every day?'"

Mei Mei's Cookies & Creamery, which is located at 113 E. Elm Street in River Falls, held a soft opening the week of Aug. 7, and held its grand opening on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

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