Ice cream shoppes are sadly becoming a thing of the past. They used to typically be part of another business like a pharmacy or something like that and were very popular for kids after school. They then went from being a kids hang out to being a family friendly environment where the whole family could enjoy some ice cream. Now, slowly but surely they are being replaced by frozen yogurt joints all over town. People think that frozen yogurt is low fat and healthier but the truth is, frozen yogurt has the same amount of sugar and if you compare ice cream cups with frozen yogurt cups full of toppings and sweets, the health factor really ends up about the same. So, why not just eat a bowl of ice cream? It’s tastes better away. Here are some other reasons why ice cream shoppes may be going out of style.
- Cold Atmosphere
For some reason, no one really realized that if the shop is warm, people will want more ice cream. You don’t have to have the air conditioning on blast to keep the ice cream shop supplies cold. There are such things as open freezers that would come in very handy. This way, whenever any one steps inside, they’ll feel the warm, comfortable environment and immediately their stomachs may even be bigger than their eyes and they’ll pile on the ice cream. If the room is freezing, they may have thought they wanted ice cream when they were outside the store but then stepping in and the drop in temperature will cause the customers to change their mind and want soup or something to warm up. No one wants cold products when they’re already cold. It’s common sense really. Except every ice cream shop seems to have their AC down all the way. - Uncomfortable Seating
Ice cream shop supplies used to consist of bar stools and booths and comfortable seating to encourage people to come in and hang out, much like a coffee shop. With the new modern style of decorating, it seems like most shops have adopted the hard plastic seating that you can’t get comfortable in. Ice cream is one of those things that you can’t get enough of; if there was nice seating that people felt welcome to relax in, they would probably buy more ice cream. But, if they buy any at all, the customers won’t stick around to eat at the parlor which means no seconds. - Expensive Prices
Ice cream shop supplies tend to be a little expensive just for a scoop or two of ice cream. Grocery stores are basically putting the parlors out of business. If there’s not going to be a nice atmosphere to go with it, there’s no point in buying over priced ice cream to go home and eat it when you could buy it at a store for much cheaper and then you’ll have more than enough to share to or to have seconds and thirds. There’s just as many options at a grocery store to and they usually have coupons and discounts or some sort of deal going on so you can buy even more ice cream in whatever flavor you want. - Running Out
One of the main problems in an ice cream parlor is under estimating. Many times, you’ll want a type of ice cream and the ice cream shop supplies haven’t been ordered properly or for whatever reason, that flavor is gone. It’s a hard hit when you’ve spent so long considering what you want and then you find out there’s no more ice cream in the back. - Franchises
Places like Coldstone are taking over the ice cream industry. No one wants a simple scoop anymore, they want the fold ins and the toppings and all the things that make it unique. If you’re going to have an ice cream shoppe, it has to be better than what you buy in the store.
If local ice cream parlors could catch on to these ideas, they may find that business will start to grow and they will become more popular and it will become harder to keep up with the supply in demand, which is a great problem to have.
