Scoops Stays Open Despite Eviction Threat

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — A beloved Brooklyn ice cream shop threatened with eviction after more than 30 years in the neighborhood avoided a lock-out last week after the community came out to support it, but the future remains uncertain.

Tony Fongyit was working steadily Saturday inside Scoops and Plates, which has stood on the corner of Flatbush and Fenimore Street for 34 years, stopping only to tell to curious customers that his landlord had not insisted on his eviction the day before.

"I was supposed to be out by yesterday," Fongyit said. "Hopefully will things will work out."

Fongyit told Patch he is now in discussion with building owners Jeremy Properties — whom he said served him with an eviction notice in May after failing to renew his lease — after locals and elected officials protested news that he might be forced to leave his Flatbush Avenue store.

More than 11,500 New Yorkers have since signed an online petition to "Save Scoops" and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams reached out and offered Fongyit his support, the ice cream parlor owner said.

"The neighborhood needs Tony and his business," one petitioner wrote.

"Scoops is a childhood landmark and memory for me and my family," wrote another. "The owner is the sweetest person you could ever meet. Save this business for our community."

The strong local community is why Fongyit hopes he'll get to stay, he said. He loves scooping up ice cream for kids whose parents he fed when they were young.

"It would hurt me very deeply to leave here," Fongyit told Patch in May, noting he'd never failed to pay his $1,600-a-month rent. "Why is it they want me out? I would love to know."