WALPOLE — A Main Street scoop shop is up for sale, but its owners say the wholesale business has no plans to pause.
Walpole Creamery announced on Facebook earlier this month that it is looking to sell its retail parlor at 532 Main St.
Barbara Kasper, the parlor manager and co-owner with her husband, Robert, said Thursday they’d received roughly a dozen inquiries, but no contract had been signed.
“We’re at retirement age now, and hoping some energetic new owners will find this to be a great opportunity to step into an established business and grow it with their own unique talent and ideas,” she said via email last week.
The wholesale business is not for sale, she said, and whomever purchases the parlor will need to continue selling Walpole Creamery ice cream.
The Walpole Creamery started in 2006, when local dairy farmers Tom and Sharlene Beaudry teamed up with David Westover and Steve Caswell to produce and sell an all-natural ice cream.
The brand’s popularity grew exponentially, which led to a group of local investors, including Robert Kasper, buying the business from the founders in 2011.
The retail business opened a second location in Keene in 2012, which moved into a larger space in downtown Keene in 2015. Barbara Kasper said the couple opted not to renew the lease for the Keene parlor in 2020 to focus on the Walpole location.
She said the couple built out the Walpole parlor for inside service and seating just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wanted to make it a cozy and welcoming place for people to gather and enjoy the area’s best ice cream together,” she said via email.
In the initial years of the pandemic, she said employees were readily available, allowing the scoop shop to continue operating through the winter months along with including a lunch menu.
She said the parlor has since faced staffing difficulties, forcing them to close the retail storefront during the winter months. She noted the retail store also stopped serving lunch and baked goods due to the lack of staff.
“We still have customers asking when and if we will bring the lunches and baked goods back!” she said via email.
The brand is currently sold at dozens of Whole Foods and Hannaford stores in New England and several stores in Texas, according to its website.
Walpole Creamery also sells its ice cream at the Brattleboro, Keene, Hanover, Concord, and Putney, Vt., food co-ops as well as local town markets.
Barbara Kasper said inquiries for purchasing the retail scoop shop in Walpole should be sent to rjklaw@comcast.net.
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