Pizza place out, cookies in at Market Street at Heath Brook shopping mall in SW Ocala

One restaurant left but a popular sweet store is on its way in at the Market Street at Heath Brook outdoor shopping mall in southwest Ocala.

Pie-O-Mine & Greens, which has corporate offices in Amherst, New York, has closed its site in the shopping center, according to a post at Yelp.com.

Calls to the restaurant’s locally advertised phone number could not be completed.

Pie-O-Mine &Greens described itself on its website (pieominegreens.com (https://pieominegreens.com/ocala-fl/)) as a “quick service, personal style, artisan pizzeria and freshly chopped, personally customized salad and wrap bar.”

The restaurant was located in Suite 316 in the shopping center.

Yelp had given Pie-O-Mine & Greens four out of five stars. Reviews ranged from five stars and “pleasantly surprised by this wonderful place” to one star and “over cooked pizza with little sauce and half the toppings.”

A person who answered a call to one of Pie-O-Mine & Greens' New York locations directed inquiries about the closure to the corporate office by email.

Attempts to find another phone number or an email for the office were not immediately successful..Suites in Market Street at Heath Brook shopping center, located at 4414 SW College Road, are available through The Shopping Center Group (theshoppingcentergroup.com).

The mall anchors include Dillard, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Barnes and Noble and Home Goods.

Meanwhile, a franchise of the popular Crumbl Cookies is expected to open in April. Signage is already up and interior work is underway in Suite 320B.

Andy Nguyen with Edo Japanese Steakhouse, located nearby in Suite 310, said the restaurant’s location sees good traffic.

According to crumblcookies.com, the company was started in 2017 in Logan, Utah, by two cousins. It now claims to be the “nation’s fastest-growing cookie company.”

“Our rotating flavors, open-concept kitchens, and famous pink box make cookie-eating an experience you won’t forget,“ the website states.

Tanner Reaveley of Orlando is the owner of the incoming Crumbl franchise. He said the company now has about 1,000 locations.

Reaveley said the Ocala store will employ up to 40 people and have about 200 varieties and a new menu weekly. He said chocolate chip flavors are always popular.

Kelley Baker, visiting from Lexington, Kentucky, was having lunch at Las Margaritas in Suite 410 in the shopping center recently. She’s had Crumbl cookies and finds them “very good.”

Baker said her favorite is a spicy type cookie.

Laura Walters moved from Lapeer, Michigan, where her family business, The Lodge, grooming for men, is located. She now lives in Beverly Hills in Citrus County and prefers Crumbl's oatmeal cookies.

More food news: Craving chicken and waffles? This place in NE Ocala has you covered.

Walters recently made the 20-mile trip from her home to Market Street at Heath Brook. She will “definitely try” the shop when it opens.

Meanwhile, Reaveley made a comment that speaks to the brand’s popularity.

“People like cookies,“ Reaveley said.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: One restaurant out, another coming in at Market Street at Heath Brook