Ice cream store with 50-foot candy wall, ‘nostalgic’ design coming to Pierce Co.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Couple of Scoops opens May 1 in Gig Harbor, offering two dozen ice cream flavors.
- Menu includes dairy-free, gluten-free options and a 50-foot candy wall.
- Owner aims to hire adults with disabilities and support meaningful work opportunities.
A new ice cream and candy store featuring two dozen flavors and lots of dairy-free and gluten-free options is coming to Gig Harbor.
Couple of Scoops is expected to open May 1 in the Olympic Village shopping center, at 5500 Olympic Dr. NW, Suite H-103. The location was formerly home to a GameStop.
Owner Jim Ciaciuch, 60, said the store will offer around two dozen flavors of “locally-sourced, freshly-made,” hard-scooped ice cream. Around eight or 10 of those flavors won’t have dairy, and at least half of their hundreds of candy varieties will be sugar-free, he said.
“So I’m trying to bring some things to town that you just can’t find in a Häagen-Dazs, or a Ben & Jerry’s, or the grocery store in the ice cream aisle,” he said. “I’m trying to bring some things that are fresh and different.”
While the store will also have what Ciaciuch described jokingly as “unhealthy” treats, his goal is that “this is a store for everybody.”
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It’s also part of his vision for Couple of Scoops as a place where people with disabilities can find meaningful work. He said that his daughter, Molly, has special needs and faces strict dietary restrictions that include sugar, dairy and wheat products.
“And so, I thought if I’m going to create their business solely for them, I wanted to create a business that also they could enjoy,” he said.
Store will provide job opportunities for people with disabilities
Just like Couple of Socks, Ciaciuch’s first store in the Tacoma Mall, the ice cream store will offer employment to people with disabilities.
Their “mission is to create meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with Autism and other Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, while fostering a workplace where everyone feels belonging, contributes, and thrives,” the website says. “A business built for the sole purpose of enriching the lives of some really Special People, with no personal financial gain.”
Ciaciuch opened Couple of Socks out of a desire to create meaningful work opportunities for his daughter, The News Tribune reported. He said he’s a Gig Harbor resident and saw a need for a similar business closer to home.
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He’s already gotten calls from parents asking about job opportunities for their adult children, he said. One woman called him and said the job search had lasted a couple of years.
“And she said, ‘I love what you’re going to be putting into Gig Harbor, and how can I have a chance to give my daughter and her friend a job?’” Ciaciuch said, tearing up. “And I said: ‘You have a job.’”
“ ... It’s just stuff like that. I mean, I’m a parent. I want to help my kid. There’s so many parents out there like me who don’t know where to go, who can’t help their own kids because they don’t know how, and nobody’s helping them, and yet this woman is just reaching out, and I’m able to give her kid a job.”
Fox Island resident Cindy Myers said in a phone call that her son, Levi, has special needs and is excited to be working at Couple of Scoops with Molly, one of his friends.
“This is really kind of a first in our little community here, to have a store that just specifically hires kids or adults with disabilities,” Myers said. “ ... the fact that an ice cream shop and candy shop is going to be opening up soon here is like a dream. It really is.”
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The store’s management staff will be paraeducators and those with experience working with people with disabilities, Ciaciuch told The News Tribune.
They’ll also get support from partners like the nonprofit Trillium Employment Services, which help match clients with disabilities to job opportunities. LeEllen Ferguson, learning and development manager for Trillium, said Trillium works with multiple clients employed at Couple of Socks and has collaborated with Ciaciuch on things like interviewing applicants and scheduling clients for shifts. Trillium plans to provide similar support for Couple of Scoops, Ferguson said.
“That’s why I think what Jim is doing is so valuable, because it’s really putting out a spotlight on individuals with disabilities that are capable and have the ability to work,” she said. “It’s just making sure that we have the right setting for that person.”
Couple of Scoops welcomes questions or comments, and people can reach out via the website’s contact form or send him an email, as well as follow them on Facebook and Instagram, he said. They’ll start reaching out to people by the end of March to recruit hires, but applications are available now on their website. The business will take about three or four weeks after the store is furnished, around the first or second week of April, to train their staff, said Ciaciuch.
Store will feature retro interior design, wall of candy and plenty of ice cream
Couple of Scoops will look a bit like an old-school ice cream parlor, with white walls, bold logos, bright colors, hanging lights and window seating with bar stools, said Ciaciuch.
“We wanted to make it literally like a place that you’re going to want to hang out in for a while,” he said. He envisioned the store being a place where people can gather for after-school events, puzzle nights or a Bible study group.
Their line-up of flavors will include both classics and special flavors, like mint chip, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry swirl, lemon cake and holiday favorites. They’re also thinking of offering a “monster sundae” with 16 or 18 scoops, though they’re still finalizing the details of that, he said. Other desserts include ice cream pies and cakes, root beer floats and gluten-free and dairy-free baked goods from a local vendor.
On the candy side of the store, customers will be able to dip into bulk containers of gummies, sours, chocolates, caramels and dozens of other sweets lining a wall that’s about 50 feet long and 8 feet tall, he said. The shop will carry “lots of nostalgic stuff” from earlier decades and some of the “generic stuff,” too, he said.
“I’m hopeful that Gig Harbor is ready, because I think that they’re really going to embrace what we’re bringing to the community,” said Ciaciuch. “It’s going to be great ice cream, an incredible array of candy, and it’s going to be all served up by an incredible staff that is going to be so happy, so happy to see ‘em.”
Plans for their grand opening May 1 are still up in the air, but Ciaciuch said they’re thinking of hosting raffles and giveaways, including free pints of ice cream for their first 50 or 100 guests; as well as face painting for kids and other fun activities.
