In our Inside Look stories, Herald-Leader journalists take you inside places around Lexington and Kentucky that you maybe haven't seen before. Story idea? [email protected].
Growing up in the 1970s in Southern Indiana near downtown Louisville, Charles Heavrin has fond memories of spending the day with his grandmother.
“We would sit at an ice cream bar and either get a banana split or a sundae or a milkshake, and that was our Saturday,” said Heavrin. “That was the highlight of going across the river.”
Heavrin hopes to bring back similar memories for others when he opens Wilmore Scoops & Slices this week in the small, historic Jessamine County city, about 15 miles south of Lexington. He is opening the retro soda shop with his wife, Nalinee, who is a student at nearby Asbury University.
The new downtown Wilmore restaurant is located on the lunch counter side of the former Sims’ Drugstore, which served as the town’s pharmacy from 1926 until the early 2020s. With its backroom, it can seat about 30 people.
Heavrin hopes when you enter the reopened pizza and ice cream shop, you will step back in time to the 1950s. Inside you will find a soda shop atmosphere with old-fashioned wooden booths, a lunch counter with vinyl-clad stools, original vintage signage and more.
“I want to create memories,” said Heavrin, who was surprised about the excitement of the ice cream and soda shop opening again on Wilmore’s Main Street, but he understands why. “I think it’s the nostalgia.”
The adjacent drugstore is an antique shop now, but Heavrin plans to serve up ice cream, floats, milkshakes and more from some of the original tools used from the 1950s.
What’s on the menu at Wilmore Scoops & Slices?
Wilmore Scoops & Slices plans to start out with a smaller menu of eight ice cream flavors and seven pizza varieties cooked in an old stone oven. Heavrin said he eventually plans to expand the menu with chili dogs, soups and sandwiches including a popular pimento cheese the lunch counter was known for years ago.
Heavrin is opening with eight flavors of ice cream and will rotate and expand with more from his supplier, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company. Founded in 1962 and based in Madison, Wisconsin, it features a 14% butterfat base made with cane sugar and small-farm Wisconsin milk.
“It’s a great ice cream,” said Heavrin.
Prices for ice cream start at $4 and go up to $7 depending on number of scoops and toppings.
During the soft opening, Heavrin says he will make 12-inch pizzas, eventually adding 16-inch pies.
The pizza lineup includes cheese, veggie, pepperoni, Hawaiian, meat lovers, deluxe and chicken bacon ranch. Prices for a 12-inch pizza start at $10 and go up to $14.
Pizza will be available for carryout and cheesy breadsticks ($6) are also on the menu.
With the excitement of the ice cream and soda shop reopening, Heavrin said he has talked to a lot of people in the community who shared stories and want their kids and families to also create memories.
“I’m not looking to be a millionaire off of it, but I just I want to live comfortable,” said Heavrin. “I want to have a career. I want to go out with something saying, ‘this was fun.’”
Wilmore Scoops & Slices
Where: 319 E. Main St., Wilmore
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday