Abbey Murphy
One of Upper Arlington’s most popular sweet treat destinations has expanded. Located at Tremont Center, The Original Goodie Shop is taking over what was formerly Tremont Shoe Repair.
For The Goodie Shop, the desire to expand has been a long one. Emilie Smith, Goodie Shop co-owner for 16 years, spoke on the matter.
“We’ve been tight on space for a while, cramped in our decorating area, kind of cramped in the baking area in production, and our storefront was kind of a zigzag for customers to see the showcases,” Smith said.
With Tremont Center being landlocked, when The Goodie Shop had the opportunity to expand, they had to take it.
“We even wanted to maybe bump into the Huntington on the other side, but they’ve never allowed that, so we were kind of just stuck. Then when the shoe repair went out, that was our chance to kind of jump on it and get some extra space,” Smith said.
According to the article “Family-owned bakery announces expansion in Upper Arlington” by Rachel Ramsay of NBC4, this is not the first time the Goodie Shop has expanded, as they previously expanded in 1993. In that expansion, they took new space from the men’s clothing retailer Walker’s.
Junior Marco Schoenherr gave his thoughts on the expansion.
“I feel the expansion was necessary. It is pretty crammed. I think expanding it will make it look a lot more open, more inviting,” Schoenherr said.
The new space will be utilized in many ways. With 850 more square feet, there are many new possibilities to look forward to.
“I’m gonna finally have an office. We’ll have an ADA restroom in the back, and then there’s going to be more production space. We’re going to get an extra bench and then another piece of equipment called a sheeter,” Smith said.
A sheeter is a machine used to flatten out dough to a set height instead of rolling out the dough manually with a rolling pin. It is a key machine in increasing the production efficiency and consistency of bakeries.
Although the product of the expansion will be fruitful, it has not come without challenges.
“We’ve been working on this for over 16 months already. It has been forever. They initially told us that they thought it would take three months, but we ran into some issues with the floor being uneven when we knocked down the wall and the ceiling too, and we had to kind of go back to square one on the plant,” Smith said.
With all the new production space, The Goodie Shop is hoping to dive into some higher-end dessert production.
“We want to start doing a few more higher-end desserts like tiramisu and cheesecake. We’re even doing cake with cheesecake filling. Then there’s something called ‘The Dino.’ It’s like a chocolate custard that’s really good,” Smith said.
Furthermore, according to NBC4, the Goodie Shop plans to offer a “Mega Long John” that is big enough to write a message on it.
Although there are tons of possibilities with sweets, The Original Goodie Shop also hopes to explore some savory options.
“Quiche are really popular, so we want to start having those on hand all the time. And then, we make chicken pot pies. And we want to start doing other types of pot pies. So we’ve got a beef stroganoff one in the mix, a vegetable-only and then maybe a pot roast one,” Smith said.
In addition to the sweet and savory items, Goodie Shop fans can look forward to some more experimental options.
“We were like, what if we even bake a cookie inside the pot pie? You know, like people like a turducken,” Smith said.
Even with all the new options, don’t worry, because the classics will still be there. Smith mentioned her personal favorites are some of the originals.
“I obviously love our cinnamon sticks, and those are the bestseller. And then I really like the Maple Long John and some print cookies,” Smith said.
For those interested in trying these new products, Smith mentioned there will be a free tasting event in March or April that coincides with the free breakfast event at Tremont Center, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to be held in the future.