A new ice cream shop opened Friday in downtown Spartanburg.
Hub City Scoops, owned by Kathy and Mike Silverman, is in a 1,900-square-foot space in the Bijou Market building beside Archived Clothing at 147 E. Main St.
The store features 28 flavors of premium ice cream from the Chocolate Shoppe based in Madison, Wis.
“We’re relieved to get to this point,” said Michael Silverman. “We might finally get some sleep. We are super grateful to everyone who has supported us.”
The Silvermans own The Local Hiker just a few doors down at 173 E. Main St.
They opened that store in 2013 after winning the city’s economic development competition the Main Street Challenge.
After almost three years in business, the couple said they wanted to do something else to attract visitors to downtown, particularly the stretch of East Main Street between Church and Converse streets. The corridor houses about a dozen boutiques and retail stores, but lacks food, beverage and dessert options.
“We put a lot of thought into this,” said Kathy Silverman. “We hope this will be an anchor for this end of downtown. We are excited to be here and looking forward to serving Spartanburg.”
The owners said the store has created 11 jobs.
Hub City Scoops’ menu includes handmade waffle cones, cups, sundaes, milkshakes, malts, ice cream floats, ice cream cakes, ice cream by the pint and a cookie dessert, as well as coffee, green tea, sodas and candy.
Kathy Silverman said the store would rotate 60 to 70 flavors of ice cream throughout the year.
It will operate from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Silvermans hosted a gathering of their friends and family to provide them with a sneak peek of the store.
Robin and Michael Snelgrove, owners of the pet boutique Paisley Paw off East Broad Street, stopped by for a sample. The Snelgroves won the Main Street Challenge in 2014, the year after the Silvermans.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Robin Snelgrove said. “Delicious. We couldn’t be happier for them.”
The Silvermans said they are glad to be open before the Fourth of July and also looking forward to the NFL Carolina Panthers 2016 training camp July 28 through Aug. 16 at Wofford College.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/hubcityscoops.
