New Smiley’s Ice Cream shop more than halfway complete

BRIDGEWATER, Va. (WHSV) - Construction on the new Smiley’s Ice Cream shop started during the first week of March. The project is now about 60 percent complete and the shop is expected to open in mid to late September.

“We really wanted to change the face of how an ice cream shop looked. Instead of being a small footprint, we wanted to go a bigger footprint because it’s the ultimate food for just hanging out eating,” Smiley’s Ice Cream owner Derek Smiley said. “On a Sunday, bringing the community out and everybody can see everybody they know and chat and hanging out.”

The new space will be the sole location of the ice cream shop. The inside of the building alone will be 5,000 square feet with additional outside seating and space. There will be a bonus room, great for parties and events, a kitchen, four serving windows and plenty of indoor seating.

Earlier this year, Governor Ralph Northam announced Smileys would be awarded $20,000 in grant funding to complete the project and the county matched the funding, providing $40,000 in assistance.

“We using [the funding] toward the purchase of two of our walk-in units, one being the refrigerator and the other being our blast freezer. Which is our super freezer runs about -30 degrees Fahrenheit. That is where we put all the ice cream, once we make it to get it flash frozen,” Smiley said.

Smiley says the shop should be complete by the fall of this year.

“It’s a prime location. I really wanted to create something that the town of Bridgewater and our local community would be proud of,” Smiley said. “I think this will really be something, people will be like that’s our ice cream shop we’re proud of that and that was my goal in creating it.”

To find more information about Smiley’s, click here.