Sweet news: Goody’s grows again, to Portland area

Goody’s, a growing Bend-based company with a decided sweet tooth, is expanding yet again, this time to the Portland area.

The candy shop/soda fountain company said Tuesday it will be opening its first Portland-area store in Beaverton in early December.

Kelley and Megan Bertrand will own and operate the old-fashioned soda fountain and chocolate store in the Murray Scholls Town Center, at the corner of Scholls Ferry Road and Murray Boulevard., next to Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

“We grew up loving Goody’s, having frequented Sunriver, and now are excited to carry on the tradition,” said co-owner Megan Bertrand.

Goody’s history goes back to 1984 and its flagship store in Sunriver.

“A large percentage of our Sunriver guests visit from the Portland/Vancouver area and continually request that we open in a store in Portland,” said Goody’s co-owner Dane Danforth.

“We are pleased that the Bertrands are now part of the Goody’s family and will be able to serve our loyal customers and establish new ones in Beaverton.” Danforth said.

The Beaverton store will be the third Goody’s franchise, along with their five company owned stores in Bend, Sunriver and Eugene.

The old-fashioned soda fountain makes its own hand-made chocolate, super-premium ice cream, toppings and caramel corn. In addition, they carry over 150 bulk and packaged candies.

So actually, this will be the eighth store with the Goody’s name, Danforth said.

The first franchise in Boise was part of the original company, but when Dane and Jvon Danforth bought from founders Marne and Marion Palmateer it in 2007, they didn’t buy that store, instead it became a franchise. The second franchise store opened in Prineville in May 2011.

“We never set out to franchise,” Danforth said, but the couple lived in Prineville for nearly 10 years and “neighbors contacted us, said they wanted a franchise. We did all the legal stuff.” And the only promotion of a franchise is in the napkin holders at the original Sunriver store, he said (and the Website, http://www.goodyschocolates.com).

So are they worried about over-expanding as so many companies have? Not really, Danforth said.

It’s “always a concern,” he said. “We have a pretty unique tradition in Sunriver, and we didn’t want to ruin that. But so many people are exposed to Goody’s” on their Central Oregon visits, and with it’s old-fashioned look, not to mention the tasty, wide variety of treats and ice cream, he feels confident they can be a success.

Speaking of success: Danforth added, “We just shipped out 18,000 tubs of our caramel corn to Costco,” so a crunchy-sweet taste of Goody’s will be at 44 Costco stores across the Northwest.