A treat for young and old, Snow Cone Express opened Sunday inside Big Creek Crossing, formerly The Mall, in what might become a permanent home to the mobile business.
The placement has already created excitement for customers of the business and regular visitors to Big Creek Crossing as well.
“I hear from the community that their biggest gap in our mall is the food court,” said Katie Dorzweiler, BCC property manager.
While there are not any locations available in the food court, placement of the new shop will add to the food and beverage options the property is working to obtain.
“I really don’t have the option at this point to expand the food court in that area, because that’s where I’m full capacity,” Dorzweiler said. “So we immediately branched out to the food trucks that were already present in our community.”
At least one food truck is regularly in the BCC parking lot near Vine, and sometimes several offer food during the weekends. Snow Cone Express was one of those regular trucks that could be found at BCC, so when it came time to find a permanent space for the shop, BCC was a perfect fit.
“Snow Cone Express has a long-standing relationship with the mall property,” Dorzweiler said.
The shop opened in a space near the BCC offices.
“I think it’s a great little space,” Dorzweiler said. “It brought something more down to this end of the mall, and it’s the perfect measurements for him.”
While the location will be the first foray for Snow Cone Express into a permanent location, it will ultimately be customer turnout that decides if an inline facility will remain in the location. The shop is in a 30-day lease that will end Dec. 27.
“We’re really hoping the community comes out in full force,” Dorzweiler said. “If it turns out really well like we’re anticipating and hoping, then he will get rid of the trailer and do inline in there.”
“The goal was actually to work out of the trailer temporarily while applying for whatever I need to get a permanent location inside,” said Jarett Gross, owner of Snow Cone Express.
Both Dorzwiler and Gross foresee the business being successful in the location.
“The kids love coming to the mall to get a snow cone. They know it’s in the parking lot, and so I think it will be even more fun to have it incorporated into the interior,” Dorzweiler said.
“My ultimate goal is get the permanent location, because I ran into problems with moving around too much,” Gross said.
Regularly, he said, people would look for his trailer while he was working fairs during the summer and customers could not find him.
“I saw the niche was there that we need a fixed location and then that will free up my trailer,” Gross said. “The mall has been nothing but good to me.”
The shop will also offer coffee and hot chocolate for the season.
The shop will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon until 6 p.m. Sunday.