Scoop: Ruby Scoops moving to larger storefront
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Ruby Scoops owner Rabia Kamara. Photo: Jordan Hanna
Richmond's own first-place winner of "Ben & Jerry's Clash of the Cones" is moving her OG Brookland Park Blvd. ice cream shop to bigger digs.
Driving the news: Ruby Scoops owner Rabia Kamara signed a lease to move her Northside ice cream shop just over a block away, she tells Axios — quadrupling the space in the process.
- The new spot at 310 Brookland Park Blvd. will allow seating indoors and outside for at least 50 customers (slightly more than her current availability for eight).
- It will have a bigger kitchen for her hand-crafted, small batch ice cream, sorbets and other desserts — and diners will likely see an expanded menu.
- There will be extra room for community events, cooking and ice cream classes.
- And possibly an ABC license for some wine and beer options.
Of note: The new spot is being built for Ruby Scoops on an empty lot and won't open until summer 2023, say Veronica Wiles and Nathan Hughes of Sperity Real Estate Ventures, which secured the space for Kamara.
What they're saying: "We outgrew the space immediately," Kamara told Axios. "From the moment we opened, there were lines down the block. And I had no idea I was going to be on television."
Flashback: Kamara started her handcrafted ice cream business in the summer of 2015 in D.C., serving at festivals and events around town.
- The VCU alum opened her brick-and-mortar shop at 120 W. Brookland Park Blvd. in Richmond in November 2020.
- Last summer she appeared on the Food Network’s "Ben & Jerry's Clash of the Cones" — and won the $20,000 first prize with her ice cream flavor creation mixing brownies, dulce de leche, toffee and vanilla.
- In March, she opened Suzy Sno, a New Orleans-style snowball shop — like snow cones but with shaved ice, making them fluffier — in Jackson Ward.
Grab a scoop: In the meantime, you can still catch Ruby Scoops at their current shop and their stall on Tuesdays at Birdhouse Market. Or you can grab a pint from Stella's Grocery (they're in all but the Grace Street location).
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Ruby Scoops' locations are on Brookland Park Blvd., not Brookland Parkway.