Global Courant
Anyone making the trek to California’s high desert this week should keep an eye out for the triangular cheddar-orange sign jutting into the horizon.
For just one week, Cheez-It transformed a Joshua Tree gas station into the Cheez-It Stop, a pop-up store selling merchandise, postcards, and of course, crackers.
The pop-up, at 61943 Twentynine Palms Highway, is open every day through Sunday from 10am to 6pm. The outpost is about 130 miles from downtown Los Angeles and 170 miles from downtown San Diego.
“We know that many Cheez-It fans love to travel and never venture out without their beloved Cheez-It,” Erin Storm, senior director of the Cheez-It brand, said in a statement. “We created this brand new desert outpost to capture the excitement of summer road trips.”
Yucca Valley resident Maggie Downs said she was the fourth person in line for the Cheez-It Stop on Monday. She had driven past the gas station as it was undergoing transformation and it piqued her curiosity.
“When I saw it was going to be a Cheez-It thing, I thought, ‘That’s weird enough I have to go,'” Downs said.
Downs described the pop-up as a “pick-your-own-cracker snack adventure”, with every detail literally being “very cheesy”.
“The first thing I noticed was that the cacti had scooped Cheez-Its on the needles,” Downs said.
A unique feature of the destination is the “Cheez-It Pump”, a device that resembles a gas pump but dispenses bags of Cheez-It crackers into souvenir duffel bags provided by the event.
“It was bizarre,” Downs said, “and kind of awesome.”
The doll contains a shop that sells clothing, including sunglasses, T-shirts, aprons and headphones, as well as souvenirs such as postcards and shot glasses.
And for the true Cheez-It fans, the store offers hard-to-find flavors like “Hot & Spicy” and “Cheddar & Bacon Duoz.”
I went to the temporary only Cheez-It Stop in Joshua Tree, and yes, I dressed like a Cheez-It for the experience.
The highlight was a gas pump that shoots Cheez-Its pic.twitter.com/9LyMg60Q9k
— Maggie Downs (@downsanddirty) June 5, 2023
