Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Happiness by the scoop

South Shore Creamery ice cream shop now open in Tower

Jodi Summit
Posted 7/1/21

TOWER- Tim and Brittany Bastron would like to sell you some ice cream, in your choice of 16 Cedar Crest flavors.Tower’s newest business, South Shore Creamery, opened its doors on June 25 and …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Happiness by the scoop

South Shore Creamery ice cream shop now open in Tower

Posted

TOWER- Tim and Brittany Bastron would like to sell you some ice cream, in your choice of 16 Cedar Crest flavors.
Tower’s newest business, South Shore Creamery, opened its doors on June 25 and spent its first weekend scooping up more ice cream than they had ever imagined.
The couple purchased an older building on Tower’s Main Street this year and spent the spring renovating both inside and out. Renovations took a little longer than expected, due to contractor delays, but the building, which last housed an electrical contractor, has been totally transformed.
“I was looking for a cabin to buy earlier this year,” Brittany said, “and I came upon the listing for this building. My wheels started spinning and I told Tim it would be the perfect spot for ice cream.”
“Our family loves to travel,” she said, “and often the highlight of our trips is checking out different ice cream shops.”
The new shop is bright and airy, with seating indoors and out. The exterior is now a cheery “vanilla” white. The menu, at least to start, is relatively simple, once you have decided which flavor of ice cream you want. Cones and cups, single or double scoop, along with hot and cold beverages are available. They also offer ice cream takeout, that is, pint or double pint portions to bring home. Next year, Brittany said, they plan to expand the menu with additional ice cream specialties, but to start they wanted to keep it simple and get things right.
Most of the couple’s six children have been helping out, with two younger boys waving “Open” signs on Main Street to flag down customers and opening the door for entering customers on their first weekend, and older children working behind the counter. The kids are treating their jobs seriously and were clearly having a good time interacting with customers and the many family friends who travelled to Tower to visit the new shop.
They have also hired several local employees to keep the shop going during the week, since currently the family lives quite a way south of Tower in St. Michael and has been travelling up for weekends.
“Our dream is to help people experience fun and happiness one scoop at a time,” said Brittany.
Tim is an outreach and care pastor for the Converge Conference, and one of his coworkers was also up to work at the shop this weekend. Ian Banker, whose regular job is in IT, was right at home scooping up cones instead of tending to the technology needs of his church.
The shop also offers several varieties of Minnesota-grown beans and grains, and Brittany said they will be expanding the offerings in the gift shop area soon.
Brittany said the shop was busy all weekend, and they were ready to do an ice cream reorder more quickly than they had planned.
Now that the ice cream shop is open, the family is working on renovating the upstairs into an apartment. They are also looking into the possibility of offering recreational equipment rentals, such as paddleboards, in the future.
The shop will be open daily this summer from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Find out more on their facebook page.