Abraham’s Ice Cream will not reopen at its location on the Back Road in West Wyoming.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Different shop will open in Abraham’s location
WEST WYOMING – When residents of West Wyoming, and perhaps even the whole greater Pittston area crave ice cream, Abraham’s Ice Cream on Shoemaker Avenue is one of the “go to places.”
Residents start looking forward to its opening every year and most residents of West Wyoming make at least several trips there each season. The majority of those residents enjoying not only the icy treat, but also the easy walk there.
Even during the pandemic, the ice cream shop opened, albeit with restrictions which included social distancing and masking.
So when Abraham’s Creek Ice Cream put out a Facebook post late last week that it had been displaced from the building, it was met with more than 50 comments expressing disappointment over its closing and nearly 100 shares.
When Mark Sutton, Swoyersville, heard about the closing he called it “terrible news.”
“I’m gonna miss the ice cream shop, especially the peanut butter sundaes,” he said. “People were great, living right down the road – we loved going there after dinner or stopping in on our way back from Frances Slocum.”
But, following that post, residents began to notice increasing activity at the shop, which sits just off Eighth Street on what locals call “the back road.”
And then, early this week, Tom Warman and Rennee Peppering, who operate Sicilian Bella Festa pizza shop next store to the ice cream shop in the same building, announced that they were in the process of purchasing the building and would be re-opening the shop as “SCOOPS.”
“We are about ready to start serving the wonderful customers their favorite flavors. We hope to extend the same honor and respect in the community the previous owner Kevin Park always had,” the post read.
Warman said the couple often visits Cape May and wants to recreate the casual outdoor dining of their favorite business there. He is also hoping to include acoustical music, picnic tables and lighting.
Ted Lingle, who moved to West Wyoming three years ago, said he was very happy that the business would be opening.
Since moving to the borough, Lingle said his family, including his grandchildren, went for ice cream at Abraham’s nearly every night after dinner.
He hopes that the new owners will be offering his favorite flavor – blueberry cheesecake frozen yogurt.
Neighbors Linda Perfinski and Veronica Ricci were originally very upset that the business was closing, especially at this time, when temperatures are rising and spring is looming.
Perfinski said she regularly goes to Abraham’s about three to six times a week, and was happy to support a small business.
When Perfinski heard from Ricci that the business would remain open under new ownership, she said. “I sure hope it happens.”
Sicilian Bella Festa has opened for the season. SCOOPS is slated to open Monday.
Luzerne County tax records do not yet reflect a change in ownership, still listing Park as the owner. It lists the assessed value of the land and property at about $90,000.
