A popular ice cream shop returned to Long Island City for the summer.
To celebrate their three-year anniversary, Ice Vice opened up a pop-up store in the neighborhood where it all started. The popular ice cream and frozen dessert shop popped-up in the converted studio of renowned local artist William Lamson.
The shop is located at 27-20 Jackson Ave. and opened for business on June 22 for their soft opening and June 23 for the grand opening.
Ken Lo, who co-owns Ice Vice with Paul Kim, said that coming back to the place where it all started was touching for the both of them.
“We have such a loyal fanbase, it’s been quite amazing,” said Lo, who added that “so many people got excited” when they found out that Ice Vice was coming home.
“The neighborhood was yearning for it [Ice Vice],” he added.
The shop sells its signature ice cream flavors, with titles like Milk Money, Tea Dance and Shade. In addition, Ice Vice also brought back a rotation of fan favorites that are site-specific in order to bring something unique to the Long Island City location. Lo shared that offering unique products is something that he tries to implement in all of the shops.
He revealed that the special flavors are ones that they used to have when they first started selling in food markets, including Happy Panda, a black rice horchata sorbet, Tico Time, guava ice cream with chili-lime plantain chip and Thai-Phoon, a Thai tea mango sorbet with sumac jiggery. A selection of unique ice cream sandwiches and pies are also available.
In addition to their beloved sweet treats, the shop also features visual treats provided by William Lamson. The artist created light fixtures specifically for the Long Island City pop-up and they are displayed throughout the shop to compliment Ice Vice’s “experimental menu.”
Lo said that the idea for the collaboration came from the owners and developers of the building. He added that the clean aesthetic of the shop was intentionally done in order to “mimic a gallery-type feel.”
Before opening up their first brick-and-mortar location on the Lower East Side in 2015, Ice Vice sold their frozen treats at food markets like LIC Flea Food, Astoria Flea Food and others across the city. They won a Vendy award in 2014 for best dessert. The company also opened an I SCREAM Kiosk in Time Square in 2017.
The pop-up had its soft opening on June 22 and its grand opening on June 23 from noon to 9 p.m. During the grand opening, the shop sold $1 scoops from noon to 2 p.m. Though the pop-up is slated to run from June through the end of the summer, Lo said that the LIC location is a “test” to gauge neighborhood interest. If all goes well, he said they may end up staying longer than planned.
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