According to an article from PDX Next, Missionary Chocolates will open up a new location inside the Portland Airport.
A representative of Missionary Chocolates was not immediately available for commentary upon What Now Seattle’s request.
According to the article, Missionary Chocolate’s new location will come in May of 2024, alongside Orox Leather. The owner of Missionary Chocolate is Melissa Berry.
“Missionary Chocolates has been in business since 2008, when Melissa, a naturopath, began making dairy-free, nut-free, vegan truffles for her mother in her kitchen. She moved into a small storefront on NE Glisan Street in 2011, then joined the weekly Shemansky Farmers Market in downtown Portland, where her stand has now been a familiar presence for a decade.”
“Missionary now has a staff of 14, and Melissa has partnered with fellow Portland entrepreneur Josie Hartman to expand into the PDX store. At the airport, she plans to sell a wide array of truffles, chocolate bars, other sweets, and coffee from Cascadia Coffee Roasters.”
Missionary and Orox’s new locations come from a new initiative that the airport hosts in hopes of boosting support for small businesses, “But we also know building an airport location is expensive and intimidating, and a lack of access to funding keeps many women- and minority-owned shops and restaurants from opening at PDX.”
“That’s why we’ve invested our resources into a retail pop-up program in the pre-security area, which will host tenants like Orox and Missionary for a year. We’ve done everything short of stocking the shelves to ready these spaces for small businesses to grow their brands in their hometown airport,” the article adds.
