Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream is planning a new shop at 612 SW 5th St. in downtown Redmond, franchisee Tim Joyce confirmed to What Now Portland. Joyce said he’s hoping to open the location before the end of 2026, and it will mark his sixth Handel’s store in Oregon after already operating five in the state.
Joyce didn’t hesitate when asked what drew him to the brand. “That’s the best ice cream in the world,” he said, adding that he’s “looking forward to being a part of their community and continuing to bring the best ice cream in the world to Redmond, Oregon.”
The ice bream brand traces back to 1945, when it was founded in Ohio. Each location makes its ice cream fresh on-site daily, a model the chain has carried into its growing footprint across Oregon, including locations in Bend. Joyce’s expansion into Redmond continues that build-out along the Highway 97 corridor connecting Central Oregon’s fastest-growing communities.
Handel’s first arrived in Oregon in January 2023, when its original Bend location opened on S. Highway 97 with plans already in place for a second store. Since then, the chain has steadily expanded its footprint across the state, growing into a five-location operation before the Redmond announcement, part of a broader nationwide push that has taken the Ohio-founded brand into dozens of new markets in recent years. The growth has made Handel’s an increasingly familiar name in Central Oregon, where it now competes alongside a handful of established local ice cream shops for the same summer foot traffic.
The Redmond shop will give downtown shoppers and diners another dessert option along SW 5th Street, an area that has seen steady small-business turnover in recent years as the city’s population continues to climb.
