Hanover will once again have an ice cream parlor — and just in time for summer, too.
The Hanover Improvement Society, the nonprofit that operates the Nugget movie theaters, Storrs Pond recreation center and Campion Rink, is opening an ice cream parlor in the former Morano Gelato storefront on South Main Street, supplied by a Northeast Kingdom dairy.
Called Nugget Scoops, the parlor will open within the next couple of weeks and sell ice cream made by Kingdom Creamery of Vermont, a third-generation family dairy in East Hardwick that wholesales ice cream to parlors in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Jeff Graham, general manager of the Society, said the need for an ice cream shop in Hanover has become acute since Morano Gelato announced in May that it would not reopen once the coronavirus lockdown was lifted. It took on added urgency when frozen yogurt dispensary The Swirl & Pearl also decided not to reopen.
“Heck, yeah,” Graham said about the isn’t-it-obvious need for an ice cream parlor in Hanover. “We own the building. We can hit the ground running.”
The idea is for the ice cream parlor “to do a test run this summer and fall, close for the winter and then reopen next year” when — barring another outbreak of COVID-19 — students from Dartmouth are expected to be back in town, en masse.
Kingdom Creamery makes 20 flavors of ice cream, but Graham said the store will start off with “at least” 10, including the top-selling maple.
The parlor will be staffed by high school- and college-age kids who otherwise would be working at the movie theater or Storrs Pond but are idle while those sites remain closed (New Hampshire has given the green light for movie theaters to reopen June 28 and Graham said the Nugget is slated to reopen “in early July”).
“We wanted to give them the first shot,” Graham said of the staffers.
When Morano Gelato announced that it was not reopening, owner Morgan Morano cited the problem with operating a business under social distancing protocols while people stood close together in a line that snaked out the door.
But Graham said the patio outside the parlor will be marked off indicating 6 feet of separation and customers will be required to wear a mask when entering the store (servers will also be wearing masks and plastic gloves). Tables will be appropriately spaced outside and there will be no indoor seating.
“It will be: Place your order, pay, exit out the door,” Graham said.
Also, at least in the beginning, Nugget Scoops will be a no-frills ice cream parlor: “hard serve” ice cream only and no other concoctions like milkshakes or sundaes.
“We’re going to start with cones and cups, really good quantities,” Graham explained, with a “price that will be right in line with every other hard serve in the Upper Valley.”
Graham expects people are ready for a treat.
“We feel right now everybody in town needs some ice cream,” Graham said.
Isabell’s Cafe, the Route 5 roadside diner which was a longtime favorite breakfast and lunch eatery among Thetford-area residents, has closed permanently.
Owners Bev and Don Hodgdon posted on the Thetford Listserv on Tuesday that “with sadness and mixed emotions” they decided not to reopen Isabell’s, which closed March 11 during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bev Hodgdon, who opened the cafe named after her mother 17 years ago with her husband, Don, working the griddle, said “we’re both in our 60s and being home the past three months made us think this is a good move for us. The requirements on how to reopen and what it would take would be a lot, too.”
Although Hodgdon’s treatment for cancer sometimes forced her to take time off from serving customers, she nonetheless avers, “if we hadn’t been shut because of the virus we’d still be working with plans of eventually retiring.”
The Hodgdons have listed the property for sale with Lang McLaughry Commercial Real Estate and are hoping that “someone will continue the tradition,” Hodgdon said.
Known for its homespun hospitality and simple diner menu, Isabell’s was a daily stop for many Thetford-area residents, who also were known to pitch in and volunteer whenever one of the Hodgdons could not make it in to work.
“Other than recycling, it was where you saw everybody,” said Gene Kadish, a retired Hanover High School counselor who lives a couple miles from Isabell’s and said he ate breakfast there at least once a week. “It got to the point when your meal was done you took your dishes up. Most of us had the menu memorized.”
Isabell’s is the latest Upper Valley restaurant to announce its closing since the pandemic began, following Lebanon Diner and Hanover restaurants and cafes Salt hill Pub, The Skinny Pancake, Noodle Station and Morano Gelato and The Whippi Dip ice cream and sandwich cafe in Fairlee.
The Hodgdons said they would be contacting patrons who had purchased gift certificates in recent months to make plans for repayment.
Grieving customers aside, Bev Hodgdon said their decision to close Isabell’s feels right.
“It’s all a good thing,” she said. “We’re looking forward to the next phase in our lives.”
Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.
