Photo: Laurie Marshall / Trademarks the Spot
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream’s grand opening at 2578 Broadway (97th Street) is scheduled for Thursday, March 7 from noon-midnight. The previous tenant at this space was a Blue Marble Ice Cream, which closed in October 2023.
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Since its 2008 inception as a food truck in NYC, Van Leeuwen has launched over 50 “scoop shops” where it serves its “French-style ice cream (made with more than double the amount of egg yolks as standard ice cream).”
Honeycomb
The forthcoming opening will mark the company’s third shop on the Upper West Side and its 29th in NYC. Van Leeuwen’s other neighborhood locations can be found at 448 Amsterdam Avenue (between 81st and 82nd streets) and 253 Columbus Avenue (between 71st and 72nd streets).
This Van Leeuwen outpost will be serving a full menu of their regular and vegan ice creams, cookies, cookie sandwiches, sundaes and milkshakes.
Per a promotional flyer shared with ILTUWS, on grand opening day the store will be offering $1 scoops from noon to 2 p.m. and a free tote bag for the first 100 customers.
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The menu comes with over 30 flavors including Honeycomb, Pistachio, Marionberry Cheesecake, Praline Butter Cake and Earl Grey Tea, in addition to sundaes, housemade waffle cones, ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats, milkshakes and pints to-go. Popular vegan flavors include Churros & Fudge, Peanut Butter Brownie Honeycomb, Strawberry Shortcake and more.
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A trek to Van Leeuwen is definitely worth the trip, but if it’s not convenient for you, you can always get your fix through their nationwide shipping and grocery store products.
While Blue Marble ultimately closed both of its Upper West Side locations to focus on its wholesale business, according to owner Jennie Dundas, the 97th Street store was subject to a string of robberies not too long after it opened its doors.
Hopefully they attempt to keep it cashless seeing as the previous ice cream shop had difficulties with robberies yet were forced to take cash regardless.
Ryo,
Not accepting cash for payment is illegal.
The previous ice cream place also had trouble with making/selling anything like good ice cream.
Yay to ice cream! This is great news.
With Carvel coming soon a block south, and already a Baskin Robbins a block north, that 3-block stretch of Broadway should be referred to as Ice Cream Row! 🙂