Local ice cream company Van Leeuwen is celebrating its sixteenth birthday with something extra sweet for Greenpointers. At 136 Franklin Street, between Alter Brooklyn and Fulgurances Laundromat, Van Leeuwen is opening its newest location, as first reported by Commercial Observer, and it looks like this new shop will be extra special.
Signage on the storefront calls this new Van Leeuwen location a “flavor lab,” noting that a flavor lab is the “ultimate scoop shop.” The sign also reads, “What happens in a flavor lab? A little of this, a little of that, a lot of goodness.” So, it’s all a bit mysterious.
In hopes of clearing up this delicious mystery, Greenpointers asked one of Van Leeuwen’s founders, Laura O’Neill, to give us more clues about the newest shop. O’Neill replied that the team is working on “something new and exciting at this location.” O’Neill said she is unable to share more at this point, but will keep us posted.
Van Leeuwen was born in Greenpoint in 2008, when O’Neill, Ben Van Leeuwen and Pete Van Leeuwen started the company in an apartment on Driggs Avenue. Since then, the business has expanded into over fifty stores, and stocks 20,000 grocery stores nationwide. And it’s all still based in Greenpoint.
Van Leeuwen currently operates one Greenpoint scoop shop at 620 Manhattan Avenue and another in Williamsburg at 204 Wythe Avenue.
Quality ice cream but bring money. But then everything is expensive today.