Van Leeuwen ice cream coming to Greenwich

Well, now here’s some good news: G. spotted the first notice that Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is coming to one of the commercial space at Independence Plaza, just next to Cocoon on Greenwich and Duane.

They already have 17 scoop shops in the city — including one at the Seaport and on Houston and Greene — as well as another 11 across the country. You can even pitch your town to them for a new location.

The whole thing started in 2008 when the two Van Leeuwen brothers, Ben and Peter, and Ben’s wife, Laura O’Neill, began selling their artisan ice cream out of a yellow truck. They opened their first store in Greenpoint in 2010. And a decade later, in 2020, according to the Times, which did a deep dive on the ice cream industry, Van Leeuwen received an $18.7 million investment from San Francisco private equity firm Nextworld Evergreen, which allowed them to open all the shops.

I remember meeting one of the brothers when they were pitching their wares in the Whole Foods aisle, as new product manufacturers often do. It’s good stuff and I love the aesthetic. Happy to have them now scooping live on Greenwich.

 

7 Comments

  1. what delicious news!!! and love the location for them, right next to Washington Market Park

  2. This is great. Try the Honeycomb and the Brownie Peanut Butter Honeycomb. Just dont try too much at once :) Cant wait.

  3. Come home to “Greenwich” and open a store

  4. This falls under the great news…bad news category.
    Their Pistachio flavor is my downfall.
    BUT, welcome to the hood…

  5. That’s actually terrible news. We already have Downtown Yogart and 16 Handles less than 2 blocks from each other. Why would they do that. Why would you try and cut into their profits. No wonder small mom and pop stores don’t survive in Tribeca.

    • My kids prefer ice cream to frozen yogurt so it’s a welcome addition for us. the ice cream selection at Downtown Yogurt isn’t so great.

    • 16 Handles is a chain with at least as many shops as Van Leeuwen…not exactly mom & pop. Also both of those soft serve/frozen yogurt spots sell very different products than Van Leeuwen.

      I’m happy they’re joining the neighborhood. I have fond memories from the early 90s of leaving PS 234 for the day and getting a scoop at the long-gone Chambers Street Baskin Robbins! It’ll be nice for Tribeca kids today to have a similar destination.

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