The Scoop on Scoop Shack Indy!
If you’re like our family, you’ve been dreaming of the day when one or both of the following businesses open in our community…
- Ice Cream Shop
- Donut Shop
Good News! There is finally a new ice cream shop opening at 71st and Binford this summer! For many of us, it’s just a bike ride away.
I can almost taste it…
So when will we finally get to taste that delicious ice cream on the other end of a short bike ride? First, let’s get the scoop on how this dream finally became reality.
Dreaming of Ice Cream
Sonja Schaeckenbach and Nicole Eslinger are good friends. Both have worked in the medical profession; Sonja an occupational therapist and Nicole a pediatric nurse practitioner. Both are long time residents of our area with kids in, and graduated from, Lawrence Township Schools.
Like many of us, after the 71st street trail went in from Hague to Binford, they kept telling each other, “We need an ice cream shop nearby!” It was something they talked about often. As have many of us!
A little over a year ago, before COVID changed the world, they said to each other, “Why don’t we open one ourselves!” An idea that might have sounded a little out there at first, but soon plans were in the works and they were on their way to making children’s (and adults’) dreams come true!
Of course, just as they were starting to put plans together, COVID hit and changed a lot.
How COVID impacts local businesses even before they open
Like even the most established businesses, COVID threw Sonja and Nicole for a bit of a loop. As healthcare professionals, they were now working to start a small business WHILE serving their patients in an escalating pandemic. To make things crazier, COVID prompted most families to avoid hospitals, causing hospitals to take pediatric wings and turn them into COVID wings. Before long, Nicole’s found her work as a pediatric nurse practitioner evolving with the growing pandemic.
While those changes weren’t what she had in mind, they provided a spark to push ahead harder in the dream to open her own ice cream shop with Sonja.
While the ongoing pandemic no doubt slowed things down, it also provided the opportunity for Sonja and Nicole to design their business and facility so they’d be on solid ground to open during COVID, as well as endure any future outbreaks. More on that in a minute…
SO WHERE AND WHEN WILL THE SCOOP SHACK OPEN?
The Scoop Shack is eyeing an open date sometime mid-June! They will be located near the intersection of 71st and Binford between Great Clips and Jimmy Johns.
The Scoop Shack will be an ice cream shop and boutique offering hand-dipped ice cream and specialties.
They will have over 20 different flavors of hand-dipped ice cream along with monthly specials. In addition to ice cream, they will have a boutique promoting different crafts and creations from local artists and more. You might even see some familiar products and names from the Binford Farmers’ Market!
The ice cream parlor and boutique will also include comfortable areas for locals to hang out, have a meeting, small gatherings, and birthday parties. They want this to be somewhere folks want to spend time!
To meet the needs of an indoor establishment in time of COVID, they’ve adapted their plan for the facility to allow for best practices in cleaning and sanitation. There will be two bathrooms inside with additional sinks outside the bathrooms for children to wash their hands. Cleanliness and sanitation will continue to be a high priority for The Scoop Shack.
Stay Tuned!
While the Scoop Shack plans to open mid-June, they are still in the process of securing permits before they can begin renovations. The plan is to begin renovations in the next couple of weeks and finish early June. Any who have endured the permit process for a business know that can always take a left turn.
We will be sure to bring you the latest updates and official opening date for The Scoop Shack as soon as we get them. We can’t wait to join you there for a scoop!
THE SCOOP SHACK
7002 Lake Plaza Dr
scoopshackindy.com