Cold Stone Creamery is coming back to the Upper West Side. The ice cream chain is opening a new shop at 2303 Broadway, between West 83rd and 84th streets, in a storefront most recently occupied by the salon Kolorbar.
According to West Side Rag, the incoming shop will mark the second Cold Stone location the neighborhood has seen. As ilovetheupperwestside.com reports, the chain's store locator currently lists the Broadway address as coming soon, though no opening date has been announced yet.
A Familiar Treat Returns After a Decade-Plus Gap
The Upper West Side hasn't had a Cold Stone since a combination Cold Stone Creamery and Tim Hortons location at 162 West 72nd Street, on the south side of the block between Broadway and Columbus, closed in June 2014. That closure was reported at the time by West Side Rag, part of a wave of shutters along the corridor that also included Mike's Bistro and Westway Deli.
At the new location, the station's report notes that staff will chop and fold toppings and mix-ins into ice cream on a frozen stone in front of customers, the signature preparation style that gives the chain its name. West Side Rag describes the broader menu as including ice cream, cakes and pies, sorbet, milkshakes and smoothies, and novelty items. Beyond those basics, the same account from ilovetheupperwestside.com adds that Cold Stone's offerings extend to ice cream cakes, cupcakes, shakes, smoothies, and sorbets, along with a plant-based Silk chocolate almond milk frozen dessert.
One of Just Two Cold Stone Shops in All of Manhattan
Once it opens, the Broadway location will be one of only two Cold Stone Creamery shops in Manhattan, per ilovetheupperwestside.com. The borough's lone current outpost sits at 350 West 42nd Street at the corner of Ninth Avenue.
Cold Stone has a far bigger footprint elsewhere in the city. The chain's store locator lists 18 open shops across the five boroughs, including eight in Queens, five in Brooklyn, two in the Bronx, two on Staten Island, and one in Midtown Manhattan, according to the same ilovetheupperwestside.com report. Two more locations are listed as coming soon, on East Fordham Road in the Bronx and Atlantic Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens.
The chain has also been expanding in Brooklyn. Cold Stone signed a 10-year lease last summer for a roughly 1,700-square-foot space at 815 Flatbush Avenue, and that shop is now open, the report states. Cold Stone also markets cakes and ice cream cupcakes for parties and special occasions across New York City, according to cakesnewyorkcity.com, which describes the chain's signature cakes as a blend of ice cream, mix-ins, cake, and frosting or fudge ganache, with the ice cream cupcakes sold in packs of six.
A Global Chain With Arizona Roots
Cold Stone was founded in Tempe, Arizona, in 1988 and is now owned by Kahala Brands, operating nearly 1,500 locations in about 30 countries, per ilovetheupperwestside.com. For now, Upper West Siders will have to wait on an exact timeline, since West Side Rag says it plans to monitor and report further details about the opening as they emerge.
