Rita's Italian Ice Opens for Season Under New Ownership

Sruthi Reddy and Beenish Bhatia are the new owners of in Edgewater. The two got the keys from previous owner Judy Cifala around 9 a.m. on Friday, just hours before the season opening at 2 p.m.

On Opening Day, Rita's serves free small Italian Ices, and when the store opened for business at 2 p.m., the line was long.

Customers were shocked to learn of Cifala's abrupt departure from the business.

"I hadn't really planned on selling, but a broker contacted me a few weeks ago, and it was a good offer," Cifala said.

Reddy and Bhatia had originally put an offer in on a shop in Columbia, but the deal fell through, and they approached Cifala to see if she was interested in selling.

"We love Rita's. We've been customers for a really long time, and we wanted to own one," Reddy said.

The two currently live in Germantown, but plan to be at the Edgewater Rita's each day. In addition, they plan to continue the community involvement that the Cifala's started.

"We will be doing all the same things, doing coupons in the schools and community outreach and catering," Reddy said."We'll also be keeping the same employees. Some [employees] have moved on though—they're 21 and have real jobs, so we will be filling some jobs, but we're keeping everyone who wanted to stay," she said.

Customer Chris Barber brought his son Isaac, 9, for an ice on opening day. "Well, its free today, but we are regulars," Barber said.

Except that Isaac didn't go for the freebie. He ordered a mint chocolate chip "Misto" milkshake instead, setting dad back a few dollars. 

"It's his birthday," his dad said with a smile. "But I got the free one. A root beer."

Rita's will be open regular hours until November, when they close again for the season.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of the owner's name. In the original version, it said "Bhalia," the correct spelling is "Bhatia."