U.S.A. I didn't even want to talk about chocolate-chip cookies, really. He picks up a big bag of just-purchased cookies, bearing the famous Famous Amos logo and a picture of Amos himself, grinning and wearing a straw hat and colorful shirt. He had also started baking small chocolate chip cookies to give to clients and friends as a way of saying hello or thank you. "I knew I couldn't manage a damn business," he says, "but then ego gets in the way.". On March 10, 1975, Amos took the advice of some friends, and with $25,000 from singers Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, [4] he opened a cookie store at 7181 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, in Los Angeles, California, naming it "Famous Amos". At first Amos used the Nestle's recipe printed on the side of the chocolate-chip bag. You have to focus on what you can do, he said. Others were too big. At school, he claimed that he had developed an intense desire to become successful and to make money. By 1988 the company lost $2.5 million. In 1988, a corporation called the Shansby Group purchased Famous Amos Cookies and successfully repositioned the brand image, changing it from a specialty item to a lower-priced product. //