09/11/2025
Good evening loyal customers, friends and family:
It is with a heavy heart that we are today announcing the bitter sweet decision to end our 20 year run as The Ice Cream Shoppe, at our current location. This Sunday will be our last day of operation. We are “hanging up our scoop”!
We had originally contemplated closing before this season started however we decided we would carry on this year to complete a 20 year journey. What a journey it has been!
The “Lemonade stand” concept of The Ice Cream Shoppe was originally envisioned by two young girls, Rachel and Rebecca at the age of 8 and 9, in early 2004. The concept was simple: Serve quality hard ice cream with very few other menu items. Simple. We still have the original sketches the girls made when gathering their ideas for a business. They shared various ideas of names for months before agreeing on the simplicity of “The Ice Cream Shoppe”. Hershey ice cream was the brand the young ladies picked and since day one we have always carried at least 24 flavors.
The menu grew in various directions over the years and as you know we have served many other specialty items such as Mighty Fine Donuts, Jo’s Brooklyn Bagels, Klenz Farms sweet corn, Pot o Gold Dairy products and many other items. We even added fresh creamy custard for a run of 8 years. Not icemilk, custard. We were very specific with that as we did not want to carry the same product others had to offer.
During those years our fondest memories can be recalled with employees and customers who many have been like family. As with many businesses, we could write a novel about our daily interactions with customers and employees.
We have watched customers enjoy their first serving of ice cream in this world and also served some customers their last. Many conversations of wisdom were had serving many regulars that would stop in the mornings for their “treat” after enduring their routine cancer treatments. Ice cream at 8:00 am, yep, said some regulars. The anticipation of looking forward to their return for their next treat and our routine interactions were always satisfying upon their return.
Over the years we have experienced many ups and downs, such as those that any business deals with. Yes, we had to endure the “Richards” and “Karens” of the customer service world as any businesses do, however we appreciated them also as they added a few milligrams to the threshold level of our blood pressure medication.
Many memorable conversations have been had over a donut and coffee or the serving of bagels in the a.m. as well. We cannot begin to share the gratitude of the knowledge we have learned in those discussions while serving customers.
We are so proud of our current and former employees. Many of our former employees have stayed in touch over the last 20 years: it’s been exciting to watch them grow up and carry on their lives. Some have developed awesome careers in a skilled trade industry, teaching profession, journalism, political field, law enforcement, nurses etc. One has become an author and one of our very first employees is now a local respected trauma surgeon. One of our former employees has her own wedding planning business and another is now a member of the clergy that could perform the ceremony; At least two now practice law and many others have great careers or are busy being great mothers and fathers. A few have proudly served our country and I’m sure a few have continued to serve you in the service industry at other local venues. We have cherished our time with them and their family members. Over the twenty years we have even had 3 couples meet, while working for us, and eventually get married, They all have started families. A fourth couple will tie the knot soon. Like we said, they are family!
Working with local organizations and charities for donations and fundraisers has also been very satisfying: Whether it was helping out a local little league team; a fundraiser for a local nonprofit; feeding first responders or road crews; a donation of product to a local business to reward their employees; or a raffle for a Chinese auction, we enjoyed supporting them all as there are many good causes out there.
The interaction with our customers created by our promotions such as our Season’s pass give-a-ways and our contests have been rewarding as well. The delivery of a product to brighten someone's day was always a great feeling.
We have been honored by the Hershey Ice Cream Company with the “Golden Scoop Award” since inception in 2005.
We have never considered any other Ice cream businesses in the East County competition; we consider them all a compliment to the East County area in offering more choices for you, the customer. Over the last 20 years you have gained some great options in the area from Kelleys Kreamery down the road carrying all the old school favorites; The Double Dipper on Buffalo road featuring a modern lineup of offerings, in an awesome setting; Smileys serving up the awesome Penn State Creamery product in Wesleyville. Both local Dairy Queen‘s still offer the traditional servings with consistency. For those of you that wish to travel an extra 7 to 8 minutes Wast on 38th. I guarantee you will not be disappointed if you try the new homemade product at Niagara creamery. All locally owned and operated businesses that you can choose from to support local.
Don't fret though friends, this formal announcement was delayed because as soon as we started to discuss our closing, individuals created alternatives to carry on what we started in a new location.
Although we are exhausted, and hanging up our scoop, a younger team member has stepped up to the plate with some fresh legs and informed us they want to put their own twist on a new ice cream adventure to carry on what we started at a new location in the East county area.
Our current morning operation of donuts and bagels will be resurfacing as a “pop-up” within the next few weeks in the neighborhood, with future plans to follow, by others.
Both operations will use our social media to announce their plans as they develop. Please continue to follow us for their updates, until they start their own marketing.
Additionally, our shipping services, SHIPIT; custom picture framing services, FRAMEIT; signs and graphics services, AAA Signs; and our engraving and awards services, ENGRAVED IMAGING will cease operation at our current address, Sunday September 14th. Our services will be merged and will relocate to 1984 Nagle Road, behind the former Walgreens. The Bush family locksmithing business will remain at its current location. Our target opening date is the week of October 1st. Phone numbers and emails will remain the same.
If you can, stop in and see us in the next few days. We would love to have a conversation with you. It’s been a privilege to serve you all, and we cannot express our gratitude for your support over the years. Thank you for the memories!
Sincerely,
The Staff of THE ICE CREAM SHOPPE
