Good Food Good Things Store Reorganizing in August

Good Food Good Things, a combination boutique and cafe at 865 Post Rd., downtown, is shutting down for two weeks in August and reorganizing into a similar store, to be called All Things Good.

Diane Browne, owner of the "Good Food" part of the store for the past 10 years, has bought the one-story Post Road building and will own the new operation. Browne also runs Diane Browne Catering, a high-end caterer in and around Darien.

Beth DuPont, owner of the "Good Things" end of the store, will be leaving by the end of July, and Browne's business will take over the entire floor of the building, operating it as one business for the first time since Browne and DuPont took over the space from the former Good Food Store.

Amy Sporrer, who previously ran the Good Things boutique, will be returning to stock the store, which will have more of an emphasis on entertaining, which will be a closer fit with the eatery and even the catering ends of the business, Browne said.

"I felt that with the one space it's a little more cohesive," Browne said of the change. "If you're entertaining friends, whether it's buying dinner for four or if you want us to do your cocktail party for 50, this is where you start."

After two weeks of refinishing floors and painting, the store will reopen with a similar layout but probably more cafe seating, she said. The temporary closing is a week longer than the store's normal one-week closing in August, Browne said.

The food store has had a loyal clientele, Browne said, with many local business people coming in for organic coffee ("It's a big cup of coffee and it's also the cheapest coffee in town"), cookies and pastries as well as sandwiches and salads.

"We're kind of like cheers -- only we're peddling soup instead of beer," she said. Trudy Rendon has been making her popular soups at the store for 25 years. The store will get calls from customers asking what tomorrow's soup of the day will be or making requests for a particular soup.

"Everything is from scratch, home-made and delicious," Browne said. Most, but not all, of the food sold is organic, she said.

Lori Gilmore makes the specialty cakes, and Browne praises her to the skies: "She's the best I've ever had -- She's extremely talented, and I'm lucky to have her -- so we do a lot of specialty cakes."

Browne herself spends most of her time and energy on her catering business, which she runs from the store. She can serve simple sandwiches for a party, she said, but the catering business is mostly high-end, with 200 to 300 events a year, mostly in Darien.

Browne has a son, 22, who attends the Cordon Bleu culinary school in Portland, OR ("He cut his teeth in my kitchen from the age of 14") and two step-children, all adults.

Diane Browne Catering provides the food for Westport Country Playhouse's catered events, and its clients have included UBS, Darien Library, Pfizer and Darien Community Fund. Browne's business will also serve at small cocktail parties and weddings.

"I want to make adjustments and changes [to the store], but I'm not changing things completely," Browne said. "The easiest way to endear someone to you is to feed them food that's delicious."