Sweet Science Ice Cream is moving to Edina's 50th-and-France neighborhood.
"I'm tired of this being a secret," said owner Ashlee Olds with a laugh. "There are so many cute new little shops over there, and ice cream is the perfect milling-around, going-for-a-stroll food. It's such a great community, and for me, ice cream is so much about community."
The scoop shop is going into the Nolan Mains mixed-use development (3945 Market St.), which features residences above ground-floor retail. It's taking a spot that's adjacent to another food destination, the Lynhall No. 3945, and faces an off-the-street plaza that's tailor-made for outdoor ice cream consumption.
Indoor seating will be added, post-pandemic, and the shop's case will accommodate up to 22 flavors of Olds' all-natural ice creams, including what is a first for her, a vegan ice cream.
"We're putting the finishing touches on it," she said. "I think we're on to something, but it's difficult to nail down, because we're committed to not using artificial stabilizers. Hopefully we'll always have one vegan ice cream in the case. We always have sorbets."
During its initial seven years, Sweet Science was strictly in the wholesale business. Olds opened her first ice cream cone stand in St. Paul's Como Park in 2018.
"I had to figure out how to scoop," she said. "I was an expert at putting it in a pint."
She later shifted her scoop setup to a counter at the Keg and Case Market (928 W. 7th St., St. Paul). That location is now closed.
