Coffee shop in downtown Pocatello opens ice cream parlor
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POCATELLO – A downtown business has expanded its operations to serve a refreshing treat.
Gate City Coffee has launched a new ice cream parlor at its existing location, 320 West Center Street. The parlor’s soft opening took place on Monday, and co-owner Bill Kelvie told EastIdahoNews.com that the response was positive and “overwhelming.”
“It’s not so much that people are excited for another ice cream shop. What they’re excited for is that we’re doing ice cream in (Gate City Coffee), in this environment. People love coming in here and being able to sit down and relax and have a nice place to sit and enjoy their ice cream,” Kelvie said.
With Elaine Kelvie, he opened Gate City Coffee in June 2022, intending to create a gathering place in the downtown area.
“When we built this place four and a half years ago, we built the coffee shop that we wanted to go to. … We wanted to create a place for people to gather and a place that really represented Historic Downtown Pocatello well,” Kelvie said.
But with the Center Street Underpass closed for construction since January, foot traffic coming into the coffee shop is down, so they began to think about ways they could bring more people in. At the same time, the Kelvies observed that a section of their shop was underused.
RELATED | Center Street Underpass closed, but downtown Pocatello still open for business
“We really wanted to create something that brought another group of people downtown, besides just coffee drinkers,” Kelvie said. “So ice cream was a real natural fit.”
Gate City Coffee is now serving 24 flavors of ice cream, and not only do they serve it in scoops, but they also serve “milkshakes, malts, sundaes, banana splits, hot fudge sundaes, all that kind of stuff, and some specialty ice cream desserts,” Kelvie said.
Currently, they don’t have any dairy-free options available, but Kelvie said they’ll soon be able to offer sherbet.
“(We have) two (sherbet flavors) that are on the way right now, and we’re looking for lactose free (ice cream), if we can find something that’ll be appropriate,” Kelvie said.
With Gate City Coffee now offering ice cream, people who are walking around downtown shopping at the different local businesses in the area can end their trip with some refreshing ice cream, Kelvie said.
“If you haven’t been down here to Gate City Coffee, and certainly if you haven’t been downtown for a while, (have) a good time (and) come down. Your small businesses downtown really appreciate the fact that you’re willing to get down here despite the underpass,” Kelvie said.
And Kelvie said they plan to keep serving ice cream year-round.
“Ice cream doesn’t tail off that much during the winter. Ice cream’s popular all year round, and … we have the nice inside seating, so it’s a great place for date night,” Kelvie said.
He invites anyone, especially people who haven’t been yet, to visit downtown before the weather gets cold.
“Come (downtown) and take a little time and walk around and enjoy it – and have some ice cream while you’re doing it,” Kelvie said.
