Owners of Popular Ice Cream Shop Are Moving

After nine years running the popular Ice Cream Shop on Church Hill Road, Lenny and Paula Schaible are calling it a career. They have sold the business and are in the middle of packing up their home and moving to Florida.

"We're kind of burnt out," said Lenny Schaible, 65, who along with his wife are only the Ice Cream Shop's second owners. "Nothing now but golf and fishing."

The Schaibles, former Oxford residents, ran a liquor store in Woodbury for a decade before they decided they had enough of asking youngsters for their identification, and moved to Newtown to learn about the ice cream business. They knew nothing about making ice cream when they took over the shop, which has been a fixture in town for 42 years.

"We only knew how to eat it," Lenny Schaible said, adding they had to learn some of the techniques from the previous owners before striking out on their own.

At first, Schaible said he learned to make the ice cream from scratch but with the extra labor required of pasteurization and other techniques, he switched to ice cream mixes.

The couple shares the work, with Lenny Schaible responsible for making the ice cream and Paula Schaible responsible for keeping the books and helping out around the shop.

Hands-down, the shop's most popular flavor, particularly among children, is cookie dough, followed by mint chocolate chip, a hit among the adults, and then cake batter in third, the couple said.

In addition, they try to accommodate special customer requests, such as cashew raisin, popular among South Asians, including one Indian customer who was the first to ask Schaible to make it. It's a complicated recipe that includes cashews, white raisins, cardamon and saffron that Schaible said he only makes a couple of times a year. The customer asked Schaible make it one last time before he retires but with time running out, and the involved recipe, he had to decline.

The couple, who only finalized the sale last week, said they have two weeks before they must move. Along with the shop, the couple also sold their home next door. It's with mixed blessing that they leave town.

On the one hand, Lenny Schaible, who started out owning a flower shop before running a bar and restaurant for a decade, and later the liquor store, said with one bad knee, he's ready to give up on the long hours, even though it was something the couple would endure for part of the year. The shop closes during the late fall and winter months.

"You've got to work hard," Lenny Schaible said. "Seven days a week for seven months gets to be tough."

On the other hand, they will miss being in the business of putting smiles on their customers' faces.

"The hours are hard but I love seeing the little kids' faces when you give them an ice cream," Paula Schaible said.

"Some of the grown-ups too," Lenny Schaible added with a little laugh "Even the teens are very nice."

Customers will miss the couple as well.

"I have such fond memories of the place," said Sue Kretz, 45, of Newtown, who remembered  the time she took her son, now 12-years-old, to the shop immediately after his first day in preschool. They ordered a kids cone for him that only cost $1.

Low prices are a hallmark of the Schaible's shop where  $2.40 will still buy a cone. The location, across from St. Rose and a short distance from downtown shopping areas, as well as the large parking lot, are a draw for residents who pack the place during the warm months.

"It's like a nice meeting place," Kretz said. "It's got a very townie feel."

Kretz said when the Schaibles close the shop for the season, they would hang a "Gone Fishing" sign out front.

"Whenever they took that sign away, you knew it was going to open soon," Kretz said, adding she worries about whether the new owner will be able to maintain the same look and feel of the place.

"You hope they keep it as fun as it is now," she said.

The new owner, who could not be reached for comment, has pledged to keep the shop unchanged, the Schaibles said.