Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
EXOTIC FLAVORS
After successful summer, Scoopz will stay open year-round
If you haven’t been stopping by Scoopz Ices & Ice Cream on a regular basis these last few months for your share of painstakingly fresh, hand-crafted ice cream and water ice, then you should know that your summer hasn’t been the best it could possibly be. But no worries on that front. Your fall and winter seasons stand a chance of redeeming the situation, because the little takeout shop at 502 W. Main St. will be open all year long.
That’s good news for Scoopz fans, who initially caught a lucky break when Gregory Mike’s entrepreneurial drive and a simple turn of the real estate cards led him to Norristown from West Philadelphia last spring.
Late last winter, Mike had been contemplating setting up shop in the city when fate seemed to decide otherwise, sending him to the heart of Montgomery County.
“One night I was looking through the commercial spaces available on Craig’s List and saw the listing and went from there,” Mike said. “I drove through the area many times without really paying much attention to it, so I was familiar with Norristown. I gave the landlord a call the next day and decided to take a shot and see what happens.”
By April 1 the Scoopz sign was gracing the exterior of the little brick building on West Main Street, while social media was doing its unparalleled job of inciting local taste buds with the news of hand-dipped gourmet treats making their debut in town.
The affable soon-to-be ice cream king was well on his way to a whirlwind first season.
“The combination of Facebook, Instagram and word of mouth really worked in bringing people out,” said Mike, who is always hard at work crafting small batches of artisanal flavors that beckon with the rare appeal of classic comfort food in a frosty form. “Everybody is on Facebook, and maybe it was a mom who saw us on there and brought the kids, or someone saw it and wanted to bring their family in or told their friends.”
As far as what separates Scoopz from the competition, Mike had it nailed from the outset: homespun concoctions like apple pie and cinnamon toast crunch were irresistible on their own, but sandwich them between homemade Belgian waffles, or pair them with funnel cake for a unique sundae, and it was easy to understand the lines forming at the walk-up window.
“My girlfriend and I were just bouncing ideas off each other, so we decided to experiment and came up with flavors like sweet potato pie ice cream,” Mike said. “We specialize in exotic flavors that you won’t find elsewhere. We don’t sell chocolate or strawberry and we don’t use preservatives or chemicals. We try to
make everything as fresh and simple as possible.”
The only standard flavor in the shop is vanilla ice cream, which is often paired with a water ice flavor like mango to create a refreshing gelati.
By far the top-selling ice cream flavor is banana pudding, which is studded with real bananas and pieces of Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies, Mike said.
“Our customers really love it,” he said. “Right now we have seven or eight flavors, but as we move into fall I’d like to bump it up to about 15, with things like pumpkin pie ice cream on the menu.”
With the ingenuity of a seasoned entrepreneur, Mike designed one of the most remunerative rewards programs around, in the form of a spinning wheel.
“When you make a purchase you get your loyalty card stamped with our logo,” he explained. “Once you get 10 stamps you can spin the wheel to win a free waffle sandwich, water ice or some other reward. One person won the grand prize, which was free water ice for the season. You can also win free movie tickets. People take it very seriously. The loyalty card is just something that encourages people to come back,” he added.
Five months into the operation, it’s obvious that Mike has no regrets about launching his business in Norristown.
“No regrets at all,” he said. “If I would have been upset about not getting a location in Philly I wouldn’t have gotten started and no one would know about me. I got the name out there and built a following. Everything happened so quickly. I plan on staying in Norristown.”