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Want some ice cream? The Neighborhood Scoop is now open!

Lawson Wijesooriya’s The Neighborhood Scoop opened yesterday at 26th and Nine Mile just in time for the long weekend. The Neighborhood Scoop has both soft serve and hard “hand packed” ice cream made by Gelati Celesti.

The shop will be open for September and October in the trailer parked at 1400 North 26th Street, with plans to makeover the building and landscape over the next year. Regular hours for the remainder of the season will be Thurs noon-9PM, Fri&Sat noon-10PM, and Sun noon-9PM.

“The vision for an ice cream shop in Church Hill came to me on Mama Blount’s porch in the summer of 2014, ” says Lawson, “As I was lamenting the lack of a proper ice cream shop nearby, she told me of her memories of High’s Ice Cream. […] I immediately began dreaming of wanting to “bring back” her sense of the local place where everyone walked to experience the joy and community of ice cream.”

Given Lawson’s former role as the Executive Director Blue Sky Fund, it’s no surprise that her vision for a simple business spirals to include cultural relevance, the capability for jobs training, and community level ownership – and all while bringing the JOY of ice cream closer to home.

“I believe there is a need for and a desire to have local businesses that strive to bring Church Hill together and are sustained by the buying power and customer demands of both “sides” of the neighborhood, ” says Lawson. “There are a million reasons why this is difficult and why it does not happen naturally. I believe with fierce commitment and intentionality, an ice cream shop has great potential be a business for all of Church Hill.”

“Our mission is to provide a gathering place for all to experience the joy of ice cream and the connection of community. In a rapidly changing neighborhood, we want to be a business that remains accessible, affordable, and welcoming. We hire local young people needing opportunity, we commit to be a good neighbor, and we care about history, sense of place, and our customer experience.”

The Neighborhood Scoop is across 26th Street from the Bon Secours Center for Healthy Living Sarah Garland Jones Center (where the Front Porch Cafe coffee shop should open in the next month or so), adjacent to the sites of the planned grocery store and J. Sargent Reynolds Culinary Institute, and across Nine Mile from the recently repopulated 26th/27th/28th Streets.

The Neighborhood Scoop
1400 North 26th Street
Facebook | @churchhillscoop

94 comments

Karen Smith 09/03/2017 at 8:09 AM

Serving Gelati Celesti?? I’ll be there! Nothing better than Gelati Celesti Salted Caramel!!

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SueWho 09/03/2017 at 10:26 AM

It’s a wonderful idea, but what will the price point be? Gelati Celesti is not cheap and many of the surrounding residents live on fixed incomes. You’ll need to earn enough money to pay employees,…Opening hours need to be set and structured because many of Church Hill’s small businesses’ hours were erratic, leading to confused customers. I wish you luck.

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John M 09/03/2017 at 11:11 AM

@Sue – pretty sure the soft serve lets them hit a very accessible price point

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SueWho 09/03/2017 at 11:14 AM

As a clarification of my previous comment, I see that the soon to be hours of operation are posted. I was thinking ahead to the shop’s future operating hours and days and wanting them to be consistent. Inconsistency detracts from a business’s success, and we’d all love for this ice cream shop to become a mainstay in Church Hill.

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Kelsey Orsini 09/03/2017 at 11:00 AM

Claire Witmeyer

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Catherine Illian 09/04/2017 at 11:51 AM

Per Facebook, looks these are their hours

Monday CLOSED
Tue – Wed CLOSED
Thursday
12:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Fri – Sat
12:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Sunday
12:00 pm – 9:00 pm
All hours in Eastern Time

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Catherine Illian 09/04/2017 at 11:52 AM

Except for tomorrow from 2-8 to celebrate the first day of school!

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Regina 09/05/2017 at 2:30 PM

Great idea. I saw people out there but I did not know what was going on. I must stop by.

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HW 09/05/2017 at 2:34 PM

to the broader point raised by #2, i had a good chat with the proprietress last night and she noted she’s working on a few things to hit below the current $3 entry point. Stay tuned…

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Catherine Illian 09/05/2017 at 7:32 PM

Wait you can buy a cone for $2

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John M 09/05/2017 at 7:37 PM Reply

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