Chances are no matter what time of year it is, anyone who’s visiting Downtown Longmont is going to consider stopping inside the micro ice creamery and vintage candy store, Scrumptious, 508 Main St.
The store is one of a series of businesses that are co-owned within the same company. Others include a second Scrumptious in Old Town Arvada, a sock store, a toy store, and restaurants.
The vibrant, colorful store looks like an old-time candy shop. It’s a wholesome and nostalgic environment where adults can treat their kids or enjoy a pick-me-up themselves. Given how many people visit, staff behind the counter are in the perfect position to talk about Downtown Longmont’s ice cream habits.
Scrumptious employee helps customer find the perfect flavor (Photo by Deborah Cameron)
One of the most frequent ice cream scoopers, who has been on staff for almost three and a half years, is Assistant Store Manager Chase Clifford. When asked about Longmont’s top choice for ice cream, he paused —just for a moment — before responding in a way that makes your mouth water.
“There’s one called Santa’s Breath that comes around at Christmas in July as well as at the holiday season,” he said, “ it’s a hot cocoa-ey peppermint ice cream [with] a touch of bourbon and some Oreo in there. Trust me, this thing is phenomenal.”
He confessed that when the flavor is available, he does his part to help the batch disappear.
Clifford also talked about how Scrumptious makes its ice cream on site and how the handmade process allows for a lot of creativity. For example, a newly hired ice cream maker came out with a spiced pumpkin pecan batch. Earlier in the year, when the world and social media were grappling with the fact that Asian giant hornets might be coming to the U.S., ice cream makers created a murder hornet flavor featuring cayenne pepper.
“The pepper hit without warning,” Clifford said. “It was a fun one.”
While Clifford has noticed that lots of people love to stick to traditional flavors, others love to experiment. Outside of this trend, he’s seen that, ”everybody in town, for some reason, loves mint. I don’t understand it but that is my highest selling ice cream. People like to stay fresh, I guess.”
And alcohol in ice cream? That seems to be a Longmont favorite, too.
“I’ve noticed people really love our whiskey ice creams. Anything we toss whiskey into is gone almost within a weekend,” Clifford said.
Apparently, teens like the whiskey ice cream, too, though it’s spread so thin in a batch it’s just there for flavor.
“It's hilarious because the teenage boys love to come in here and once they see anything with the word whiskey in it, they’ll ask for a large of that,” Clifford said.
In addition to serving Longmont with sweets, Scrumptious also works to stay involved in community events. It shows support for events both downtown and regionally, sponsoring concerts and Colorado University football and basketball games last fall.As with many small businesses, COVID-19 has impacted the sweet shop. Prior to the pandemic, Second Fridays were especially busy, with holidays and weekends also brisk. When the store is at peak, there can be a line out the door between 5 to 9 p.m. That dropped this past spring, but has built back a bit since then.
Clifford and the rest of the staff hope to keep customers safe by staying as clean as possible. This requires a lot of effort.
“We’re going around the store every hour to two hours to disinfect [store items] with the spray. We’ll also hit the countertops, tables, soda cooler. . . anything we think anyone would touch,” said Clifford.
Keeping things clean means that, during COVID-19, when people need a treat more than ever, Scrumptious can be there for them. That was the case for customer Jessica Goldberg who brought three kids in.
“Since school is sporadic right now, we have to have our kids at work with us sometimes. This is a treat because they’ve been really well behaved while at the office,” Goldberg said. She also shared that like many others, these kids have their favorite flavors: cotton candy, blue moon, and coffee dark chocolate orange.
In the end, however, it’s the availability of a pick-me- up that keeps Goldberg coming back. “I work on this block and it’s been so nice to have a place to come get treats. All of us who work in the chamber building come here when we need treats. . .and that’s often.”
