Three scoops of success.

Byline: RETAIL By Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

CRESWELL - Their inventory follows a simple guideline: "Anything that makes your butt bigger, we have."

That derriere-inflating product list includes 40 flavors of frozen fancies from Florence treat-maker BJ's Ice Cream, along with BJ's fudge and saltwater taffy assortments. Then there's fresh-spun cotton candy to round out the menu.

And Creswell's newest business, Old Time Scoops Ice Cream & Candy, apparently has hit the right formula.

"If we were to open up at 7 in the morning, we'd have people there eating ice cream," says Danyelle Glendenning, who owns the business with her husband, Josh, and silent partners Horn and Leap Sov.

Old Time Scoops opened April 14 and already has had to place a couple of special orders - on top of regular weekly orders of 150 gallons or so - to BJ's in Florence. The combination of high-end ice cream treats and a top-to-bottom 1950s motif has brought a constant stream of customers to the new shop at Second Street and Oregon Avenue - the main east-west street through Creswell, Glendenning says.

The instant commercial gratification hasn't been lost on BJ's owner, Brian Cole of Florence. He had been in Arizona for a couple of months when his son, Keith, told him he had signed a new shop in Creswell.

"I haven't been to Creswell in a long, long time," says Cole, who is back in Florence now. "I thought Creswell would just be another small account.

"I don't know what's going on over there, but (the Glendennings) are really going to town."

For the record, Old Time Scoops is one of just four stores where BJ's Ice Cream is available. BJ's has been sold in at least a dozen other locations around the state at various times during its 27 years, but for now can be found only at the company's two outlets in Florence, an ice cream shop in Ashland and the new Creswell store.

Cole says he offers a contract that gives his wholesale customers a market area, similar to a franchise agreement, but hasn't gotten to that formality with the Glendennings. But he will.

"On a scale of 10, I'd say (the Glendennings) are right up there close to a 10,' he says. `They're doing everything right."

Call it luck, or maybe product love. Danyelle Glendenning owned a nightclub in La Grande back in the late 1990s, but that's as close as she or her husband had gotten to operating an ice cream shop.

The couple, who have lived in Creswell about 3 1/2 years, talked originally about opening a sandwich and espresso shop. There already were plenty of those, but no ice cream stores in town.

Danyelle Glendenning says her favorite movies are "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and "Grease." So after she and her husband settled on the ice cream and candy business, the decision on decor was easy.

"I don't know about you, but if you could travel back in time, (the 1950s) is where I'd like to go," she says.

The storefront, at 204 W. Oregon Ave., actually was once a soda shop, Glendenning says. But it has since served as everything from a laundromat to a business card shop.

After agreeing to a partnership with the Sovs, who own a pair of doughnut stores in Eugene, the Glendennings leased the space. They spent four months and about $35,000 getting everything ready.

One addition the owners hope to make before summer is an increase in freezer space.

"We have a few freezers, and we're buying more," Danyelle Glendenning says. "When summer hits, we won't be able to keep (the ice cream) in stock."

The store is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Retail Notebook runs on Friday. Joe Mosley can be reached at 338-2384 or [e-mail].