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Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the nationally beloved brand known for its made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, will open a scoop shop in Darien on Thursday, April 27.
The Darien store is the brand’s second location in Connecticut, and follows on the heels of its Greenwich opening in October 2022 - its first suburban scoop shop.
The launch also marks a return to its roots for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen who are Fairfield County natives and whose ice cream journey began here 20 years ago.
Ben and Pete became ice cream entrepreneurs back in 2002. The brothers rented a Good Humor truck and drove it all around Greenwich for two summers.
With the money he made, Ben went backpacking around Asia and Europe and found himself most excited by the food he discovered and the revelation that good food was more accessible in other parts of the world.
His travels inspired the idea of an ice cream truck serving good ice cream. Not long after, they enlisted co-founder Laura O’Neill and Van Leeuwen was born in the form of a yellow scoop truck on the streets of New York City in 2008.
“We’re excited to grow our footprint in our home state with the opening of our store in Darien,” said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder, and CEO. “It’s been so meaningful to see how warm the reception has been in Greenwich where Pete and I grew up, and we hope the community of Darien will be equally as excited for the good ice cream coming their way!”
Opening day hours on Thursday, April 27 are 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. In celebration of the opening, the shop will offer $1 scoops on opening day from 3 to 5 p.m.
The Darien scoop shop is located at Darien Commons (114 Heights Road) and will be open daily.
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