A new family-run pizzeria has opened at the northwest corner of Cactus Road and 35th Avenue in northwest Phoenix, serving New York-style pizzas that stretch up to a massive 32 inches across, along with 18 flavors of Thrifty ice cream. Zane's Pizza & Ice Cream sits directly across the street from Moon Valley High School, a campus of roughly 1,500 students, positioning the shop to lean on student and neighborhood foot traffic from day one.
The business is described as a small family-run eatery, according to Mouth by Southwest, which reports the shop offers six pizza sizes ranging from 10 to 32 inches. Two pies stand out as go-to choices on the menu: the Mediterranean Twist, loaded with feta, grilled chicken, onions, tomatoes, and green olives, and the Meat Lovers Supreme, piled with beef, pepperoni, chicken, and sausage. Moon Valley High School itself is part of the Glendale Union High School District, per LoopNet, which flagged the campus as a key customer base for the storefront across the street.
A Grassroots Launch Without a Chain's Ad Budget
Family representative Ahmad Omar Zainulabadin publicly launched the shop last month as an independent mom-and-pop operation, explicitly asking the neighborhood for word-of-mouth support since Zane's can't compete with big chains on advertising dollars, according to a Facebook post shared through a local community group. That same post noted the shop serves its New York-style pizza alongside fresh coffee and the ice cream counter. The location has cycled through other dining concepts before, including Pizza DiVino and Angel's Naija Cuisine, per health inspection records filed with Maricopa County Environmental Services.
For those looking to skip a dine-in visit, the shop offers digital ordering through the Slice platform, with build-your-own pizzas starting at $9.99 and daily specials such as a Friday family meal featuring an 18-inch pizza, six wings, and cheese sticks, according to the shop's Slice listing. Zane's is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The Thrifty Ice Cream Connection
The ice cream side of the menu ties into a bigger story in California and Arizona retail. Thrifty Ice Cream was sold out of Rite Aid's bankruptcy in July 2025 for $19.2 million to Hilrod Holdings, an investment firm formed by former Monster Energy executives, as reported by 12 News KPNX. Rite Aid had owned the brand since 1996. The ice cream is still produced at a single plant in El Monte, California, where new ownership has been pushing to expand wholesale distribution to independent scoop shops across the Southwest, according to the Orange County Register.
Pairing Thrifty's nostalgic flavors with a non-ice-cream-focused retail format is a familiar playbook in the Valley. Hoodline previously found local water stores like Neptunes Waters in North Phoenix stocking up to 22 Thrifty flavors as a foot-traffic driver, showing the brand's pull extends well beyond traditional ice cream parlors.
Giant Pizzas Fit a Regional Trend
Zane's 32-inch pies also slot into a broader novelty-dining trend around Phoenix, where oversized New York-style pizza has become something of a spectacle. Gus's New York Pizza & Bar, for instance, runs a 32-inch pizza eating challenge that has circulated on social media as a draw for large groups and competitive eaters.
The shop's opening also lands amid a challenging economic backdrop for small, independent restaurants. Arizona's restaurant and foodservice sector totals 12,342 locations generating $31.1 billion in sales and employing 339,000 workers statewide, according to 2025 data from the National Restaurant Association. Every dollar spent at an Arizona restaurant generates $1.91 for the state's economy, the trade group notes. But single-unit, family-run operators like Zane's continue to face rising food and labor costs, a squeeze that the National Restaurant Association says is pushing small businesses to lean more heavily on digital ordering platforms just to stay competitive.
