Bear Silber, new owner of Powell's Sweet Shoppe. Photo provided.

The new owner of Powell’s Sweet Shoppe is planning a major expansion of the brand, including both corporate locations and adding more franchise locations.

San Jose resident, Bear Silber, has purchased the company from Founder Michael Powell, and has been operating as ceo and owner since Aug. 1.

Bear first discovered Powell’s Sweet Shoppe as a customer in their Los Gatos and Willow Glen locations six years ago.

Ever since “walking into a near paradise of chocolate and sweets,” he has been a loyal follower.  

Powell’s Sweet Shoppe currently has 16 stores, which are located in California from Laguna Niguel to Windsor, as well as in Bend, Ore., and Boise, Idaho.

Silber is planning to add more cities to that list. Specifically, he’d like to build flagship corporate locations, and then build franchise stores surrounding it so that they support each other.

“I would like to start in L.A., we’re looking at Pasadena, and then moving north to Portland and Seattle,” Bear explains. “We will be looking at all the quaint Main Streets along the way to find other locations as well. From there we would like to spread all across the U.S.”

Powell’s Sweet Shoppe plans to begin opening new franchise locations as early as the first quarter of 2014, and they are currently seeking interested parties.

And there’s one place in particular that’d he really love to open a new store — downtown Palo Alto along University Ave.

“I was born at Stanford Hospital and that area will always have a place in my heart,” he says.

Bear is thinking internationally and says, “Tokyo or London would be amazing.”  

“No matter where we end up, I want to make sure we remain strong to our roots and to the communities we are in,” he says. “Myself, and everyone in this company, thinks of Powell’s as a place in the neighborhood where kids, adults and families can come together to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.”

The original Powell's Sweet Shoppe opened in late September 2003 in Windsor, California. The first franchise opened in 2006.