When Geraldine Kim and Josh Gertzen opened Frozen Matter in Uptown in the spring of 2016, they built their ice cream shop with expansion in mind. Frozen Matter is the only retail ice cream shop in Colorado that is also a licensed dairy plant with an on-site pasteurizer, according to the owners, so making use of that equipment on a larger scale makes sense. "The dairy plant in Uptown was actually built to support four to five locations," Kim explains.
And so expansion is in the works; Kim and Gertzen have signed a lease at 1061 South Gaylord Street in the Washington Park neighborhood and hope to have the new shop open in December. While growth was always in the business plan, Kim says the second shop came sooner than she and Gertzen were expecting. The ice cream has earned praise from fans for the unique flavors and rich, housemade base, and when StarChefs recognized Frozen Matter with a Rising Stars award this past summer, landlords came calling, too. "It seems like we get hit up by a developer at least once or twice a month," she notes.
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The new ice cream parlor will take up 750 square feet in a former jewelry shop and will sell ice cream and pops made at the original location, which, in addition to a commercial pasteurizer, also has a full-sized kitchen where baked goods and other ice cream add-ins are created. Like the first Frozen Matter, the new outpost will also have a liquor license so that adults can enjoy creative booze-and-dessert pairings.
With the expansion, customers can also expect more novelty items like ice cream sandwiches, cakes and pies. Kim adds that the new location also has extra space that won't be part of the initial buildout, and she hopes to put something fun there eventually, but it won't be another speakeasy like Retrograde, the hidden bar at the back of the Uptown parlor that has a walk-in refrigerator as an entryway.
Frozen Matter had been selling ice cream from a portable cart all summer on Old South Gaylord, so the owners had become familiar with the tastes of the Washington Park residents that will soon become their new neighbors.
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