Published: 5/31/2021 7:44:53 PM
EASTHAMPTON — After surviving a planned demolition and seven years sitting vacant, Tasty Top ice cream is back under new management for the summer.
Over the years, the 93-99 Northampton St. property’s future has been uncertain, with a Stop & Shop plaza and a marijuana business previously proposed for the location. Neither proposals came to fruition, and for at least the next few months, the property is back to its ice cream roots.
Tasty Top Manager Nick Dulude is leasing the stand from property owner Dennis Courtney, who listed the building for sale in 2018 after Stop & Shop halted development.
Courtney “kind of just offered me the opportunity,” Dulude said. “He asked if I wanted to run it for the summer, and it seemed pretty exciting.”
The ice cream stand, visible by a retro sign bearing its name and a soft-serve ice cream cone, had not served customers since 2014.
Early responses indicate that local enthusiasm for the ice cream stand has not waned over the years: The business drew lines when it reopened two weekends ago, and the news of its return quickly spread on social media. On the Facebook page “Easthampton 01027 The Good News Page,” one post announcing the reopening garnered over 150 likes and more than 300 shares as of Friday.
“I feel like it’s a staple of Easthampton,” Dulude said. “Everyone knows what Tasty Top is.”
Hadley resident Robin Baj, who took her grandniece to Tasty Top on a Friday afternoon, said that while she had not been a frequent customer, she was always sad to see the vacant shop while driving by.
“When (my niece) said it was back, it was very exciting,” Baj said. “It was the best place in town.”
Dulude, 21, is a first-time business manager, though he has experience helping family members run restaurants locally and in Las Vegas. Dulude’s father, Pic Dulude, owns Pic’s Pub and Pizzeria in Holyoke.
The stand sells soft-serve only and likely won’t offer as many flavors as it did in the past, Dulude said. But the stand added back its popular black raspberry flavor after numerous people asked for it, and Dulude hopes to add non-dairy options in the near future.
Dulude isn’t sure what’s in store for the stand after the summer, but said that Tasty Top will remain open until around September. Sales are cash only.
Tasty Top is open from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday, and noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.
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