MAKING CONNECTIONS THROUGH COOKIES

STORY BY DOWNTOWN RAPID CITY PHOTOS BY VISIT RAPID CITY

It was a Friday night in Platte, South Dakota. Rob and Julie Mahaffey sat watching their son’s baseball game when Rob turned and told Julie he hated his job. “It was the moment 30 minutes later, Rob made a phone call that would change their lives forever.

I knew we needed a change,” said Julie. “We had been caught in the rat race of life, chasing dollars because that’s what we thought we were supposed to do,” Rob added.

For years, Rob and Julie had both been working for Cenex Harvest Systems. “Rob was able to move up quickly…each job was more money,” Julie said. “The people at CHS accepted us, they treated us better than family, and we loved it.” The family was living in Goodland, Kansas and their oldest son, Charlie, was on track to play baseball at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs when a life-altering moment put what was most important into perspective for the family.

“Our son was playing an intramural soccer game and got kicked in the face,” Julie recalled. “Thankfully, we were three hours away so we could get there quickly, but it was devastating for him.” Following the accident he was medically honorably discharged and moved home, reuniting the family. Soon after the family was in Wray, Colorado and Charlie was attending CSU in Ft. Collins. They would get together at a little cookie store, Mary’s Mountain Cookies. “There was never any parking; it was a small store, but it was where we got to sit together as a family and have some quality time,” Rob recalled. “We would sit outside at one of their little tables and talk. It was great,” he added.

Years later, those memories at the cookie store are what stood out in Rob’s mind that night at the baseball field. The phone call he made was to Mary, to see if they could own one of the cookie stores they loved so much.

Soon after, Mary flew to Rapid City to meet the Mahaffey family to discuss their idea and look at properties. They were about to leave town, failing to find a building in downtown Rapid City, when Julie saw a sign.

“We were getting ready to leave when I saw a for lease sign hanging in the window,” Julie recalled. “We looked at it, and I remember Mary telling me, ‘Close your eyes and sit there with the lights off. Then ask yourself, can you imagine spending 15-16 hours in this space? Because that is what opening a business will require,’” she added. “The space needed some work, but we knew we were going to make it happen,” Rob said.

Four years later, the Mahaffey family and Mary’s Mountain Cookies have become a staple in downtown Rapid City. Like all entrepreneurial journeys, it has not come without some hurdles. “The first two years were hell, but we knew that going in,” Rob described. “Our careers prior were not fun, we were going to have to suffer to make it, but we are better people and business owners for fighting through it.”

“We will never go back to chasing the dollar,” he added. “Even if we won the lotto, we would buy more small businesses.”

For Julie, it’s about even more. “We love being connected to the community in Rapid City, the community has embraced us, and we want to make sure we give back. We have made so many connections with people coming in to buy cookies. We end up talking for hours about life; it’s the craziest thing.”

Those connections that drive the Mahaffey family are what make them unique. They open their store to anyone from any background without judgment and embrace the culture that downtown Rapid City offers. “We’re all people, and we must be willing to embrace everyone,” Julie said. “We try to create an environment that is genuine; it brings people in and brings people back. It’s a community.”

A PERSONAL CONNECTION

• The Mahaffey family gives annually to the Children’s Miracle Network. They saw firsthand how much work the organization does when their youngest daughter Claire was born at 26 weeks and spent 74 days in the NICU.

• Both Rob & Julie worked for a period in Law Enforcement before going into the Ag business.

• Mary’s Mountain provides a handful of base recipes, but the rest of the unique cookies and treats come from Rob & Julie themselves.

• The Mahaffey family are avid outdoors enthusiasts. They vacationed in the Black Hills before they moved to Rapid City in 2018.