Hot days — but not too hot, ideally — mean steady business at Arlington’s ice cream parlors.
Store owners and employees told ARLnow that an unusually hot summer has been driving healthy revenue, although some days this year, intense heat has caused slower traffic even at ice cream shops. In a business built on frosty treats, Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream owner Rollin Amore has summertime almost down to a science.
“There’s heat, and then there’s sunshine,” Amore said. “Ideal conditions is sunshine, right? Anywhere from 70 degrees up to about 92, 93 is the zone. Over 92 to 95 degrees, the problem is people don’t come out. It’s not that they don’t want ice cream or sorbet — they just don’t leave the house that much.”
Temperatures this summer have tended to range from the 80s to low 90s, but sometimes far exceeded what Amore calls the “sweet spot” — rising above 100 degrees on several occasions in both June and July. The D.C. area recently concluded its fourth-warmest first half of summer ever, with an average temperature of 79.8 degrees, according to Capital Weather.
In response, Amore said he’s been adding more sorbet flavors to his menu at 1201 S. Joyce Street in Pentagon City. These sell well on especially hot days.
“There’s a lot of butter, fat and so forth in my ice cream, and it’s very rich,” he said. “Sorbets are made with water, like a lemon ice or something like that, and it’s far more refreshing.”
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream’s Ballston location (4075 Wilson Blvd) has also been reporting good sales since it opened last month. Around 100 people have been coming in every day, employee Jonathan Stewart told ARLnow.
“In the evening, that’s usually when we get our line of customers coming out the door,” Stewart said. “It’s a lot of families, either families that are just out and about for the day, or families that have come from a restaurant and then they want to come for dessert.”
Another newcomer, The Scoop N Scootery, has been all the rage since it opened in early June at 1138 N. Irving Street in Clarendon. This parlor, which specializes in loaded ice cream sundaes, has been attracting long lines in part driven by an aggressive social media push.
“It’s usually between a 30 minute and an hour 30 minute wait, [but] we move them real fast,” franchisee Ryan Majdalawieh previously told ARLnow. “A lot of people are kind of surprised that we’re moving that fast, given the amount of people that are actually in line.”
Despite new competition and waves of extreme heat, Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream in Westover (5849 Washington Blvd) is also reporting success this summer, partly owing to a crowd of local regulars.
“Excessive heat is bad, but we still have our regulars that come even if it’s, like, 100 degrees outside,” Toby’s employee Payton Cooper said. “We’re doing pretty good. We’ve been in business for about 18 years at this point, so it’s been pretty good.”
No matter how hot the summer gets, Amore said he always finds joy in selling ice cream.
“It’s the happiest business in the world,” Amore said. “Nobody’s ever angry.”
