OPENING SOON

BREAKFAST SPOT/DONUT SHOP TAKING OVER OLD GOODIE GALLERY

  • CHRISTIAN McKEARNEY/Staff
    CHRISTIAN McKEARNEY/Staff
  • Sam Pham, who’s operated donut shops in metro Atlanta and Texas for more than 30 years, currently is in the process of opening Milledgeville Donuts & Coffee at 812 North Columbia St. For the last 16 months, the property has sat vacant, aside from a trailer of watermelons for sale during the summertime months. CHRISTIAN McKEARNEY/Staff
    Sam Pham, who’s operated donut shops in metro Atlanta and Texas for more than 30 years, currently is in the process of opening Milledgeville Donuts & Coffee at 812 North Columbia St. For the last 16 months, the property has sat vacant, aside from a trailer of watermelons for sale during the summertime months. CHRISTIAN McKEARNEY/Staff

    In a sense, few things are more American than Cambodian donut shops. They represent the hardworking immigrant spirt, the kind that helped build America.

    Anyone who’s ever spent any time in southern California is familiar with Cambodian donut shops. In Los Angeles County alone, there are more than 1,000 of them.

    Now, Milledgeville is getting one, and it’s in a familiar location. Work currently is ongoing at the old Goodie Gallery property at 812 North Columbia St.

    Business owner Sam Pham hopes to open Milledgeville Donuts & Coffee in the next few weeks. Pham said he thought about going with “Goodie Donuts,” but in the end he opted for something more germane.

    There won’t be biscuits, but there will be breakfast croissants, bagels, burritos and kolaches, which Pham says are “a lot like pigs in a blanket.” Kolaches are most popular in Texas, which is where Pham lived for several years.

    While operating a donut shop in Houston, a film maker approached Pham with a project, and that project ultimately became “Donut People,” a 95-minute documentary that went on to win several film festival awards. The documentary gets into Pham’s family history, chronicling their escape from Cambodia through the jungles of Thailand and away from dictatorship.

    Another thing Pham is bringing with him from Texas is brisket, which will be available in kolaches. There’s also the Cambo Kolache, another “Texas thing,” featuring jalapeno-cheddar sausage.

    Pham said people have been telling him all about the history of the Goodie Gallery, which would’ve turned 40 years old this year. Prior to that, it was Plow Boy Burgers.

    “I know a lot of good memories were made at Goodie Gallery, up until the end,” he said. “I hope people make many more good memories.”

    The “up until the end” part centered around a viral video that was well-documented around Milledgeville. In the video, a Goodie Gallery employee has an expletive-laden meltdown on a customer. The business then closed abruptly in March 2025.

    Milledgeville Donuts & Coffee’s tentative hours are 5 a.m. til 2 p.m., seven days a week.