GoBerry owners SiriNam Khalsa and Aaron Buford pose with one of their sweet treats.
Photo credit: GoBerry ‘n Cream
NORTHAMPTON — GoBerry ‘n Cream will be returning to Northampton at a new location on Main Street sometime in April.
The exciting news for sweet treat lovers in the city comes on behalf of two former area educators, now entrepreneurs, with deep passion for the community. Co-owners SiriNam Khalsa and Aaron Buford are bringing a new version of the classic GoBerry ‘n Cream shop to 207 Main St. This will be the second location for Khalsa, who has owned a GoBerry ‘n Cream in Amherst since 2022.
“We love the new, cozy location on the sunny side of Main Street,” Khalsa said. “We are looking forward to serving the smiling faces of local customers who have missed the distinct flavor of GoBerry.”
Alex and Molly Feinstein were the founders of GoBerry with shops in Northampton, at 80 Main St. and in Amherst at 28 Amity St. In May 2022, Khalsa purchased the Amherst location and the Feinsteins later closed the Northampton shop.
Khalsa of Leverett, and Buford, of Amherst, have a shared passion for engaging young people as well as a commitment to community. The two met when they were both educators in the Springfield Public Schools system and have been colleagues and friends for 15 years.
What pushed the two to ultimately taking on expansion of the shop to Northampton was Khalsa’s daughter — Ananda Khalsa, a jeweler in Northampton — who encouraged her father to reopen GoBerry in the city. Khalsa became intrigued and eventually invited Buford to partner with him.
Buford noted that he and his children are frequent visitors of the Amherst GoBerry ‘n Cream shop.
“You come in happy, you leave happy, so I always admired the business. I thought it was a special kind of place,” Buford said about his trips to the Amherst location. “SiriNam and I have been friends for a long time and when he bought the Amherst GoBerry, I thought that he made a move that was a good choice for things he wanted to explore as far as entrepreneurship goes. For me, as an educator, I was really impressed by his ability to really navigate entrepreneurship, but also really stay dedicated to education.”
When approached for partnership on the new location, Buford said it was “a no-brainer” and the idea of being an educator and a local business owner was an appealing challenge to take on after seeing Khalsa’s success.
“I’m able to serve the community in a different way than I had been serving my community for 14 years,” Buford said about his interest in expanding his career as an educator and a local business owner.
With a mission to provide locally grown and produced food whenever possible, GoBerry will offer fresh frozen yogurt made with skim milk and organic non-fat yogurt from local farms. Like the Amherst location, the shop will also offer several flavors of the locally produced Bart’s ice cream, as well as moo-free frozen Banana Nice Cream and sorbet.
Buford said with the support, excitement and positive energy the people of Northampton bring to new initiatives and ideas, bringing this new version of GoBerry to the old versions original home in the city is a willingness to engage with the community at large from the new business owners.
“Teaching brings me joy because it’s constant engagement about learning and there’s social emotional learning and there’s academic learning, and through all that, it’s really centered around communication and engagement and this type of business is too,” Buford said. “We really want people to have experiences that feel positive. People need that quick pick me up, go over to GoBerry and grab a nice dessert. I really just enjoy the interactions with customers and having that very quick space to feel positive, happy and bring someone joy. My philosophy of education is work hard, but work with joy so that’s a really important part of who I am and what I bring into my life and other people’s life.”
Buford was a teacher in Springfield and worked for three years at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School as the restorative justice coordinator. GoBerry will be his main occupation, but he will continue to offer educational consulting. Buford has three school-aged children and he mentors two young men through A Better Chance.
Khalsa was a teacher and instructional coach in Springfield and is a past owner of Amherst Eco Laundry. He is also a part-time instructional coach at Four Rivers Public Charter School in Greenfield, and he performs with the local jazz band, Masala Jazz. He has three grown children.
“Northampton is going to have two business owners who are very empathetic and have a desire to improve the community and reach out to people,” said Khalsa. “What’s always needed in our society are connection and communication. I think I’m good at that and I think Aaron is excellent at it.”
Buford added, “I am attentive and committed, and I’m excited to bring my motivation and passion into building a business that is successful and has value in the community. Being a relatively young person of color, I am also excited to model entrepreneurship for youth.”
Both business partners reiterated their excitement to take on the new challenge and bring a community delicacy back home to Northampton.
Buford said returning GoBerry to Northampton comes with standards that must be met, as they will face other competition in the city and look to lead as an example of the type of businesses that want to make up downtown.
“We’re so grateful for the vision that Alex and Molly brought to Northampton with opening up the business, so I feel very fortunate that we have an opportunity to continue that and build on the presence that they built in Northampton. People are really, really, really excited to see it come back, so clearly they did a really great job building something solid and well regarded there,” said Buford. “We’re really serious about quality, connecting with local producers for milk and produce, and to have a commitment to running the business in an ethical way and giving back in ways that are going to hopefully support, if not be an example of the types of businesses Northampton might need in order to really stimulate or continue growth in the local economy. I feel really excited to be participating in that movement, that shift, toward really stimulating downtown Northampton with businesses that are going to get people to come out.”
