If there was a perfect summer to start an Italian ice business in the heart of Cranston, this would be it.
As the blazing heat scorches the city, New England Slush Company at 174 Gansett Ave. has been getting busier and busier ever since it opened last month.
The former New England Lemonade Company building was taken over by area entrepreneur and workaholic Derek Nelson, who saw the lease was available and visualized an Italian ice stand.
After a fresh coat of white and pink paint, a new awning and a lot of sweat equity on the inside, what was once yet-another frozen lemonade stand is now a growing business catering to people driving along the busy road that connects Park Avenue and Cranston Street and coming to and from both Bain Middle School and the Pastore Youth Center across the street.
"We had a slow start, but things have gotten busy," said Nicole Costavile, who co-manages the store with longtime friend Crystal Larkin. "Once we got the awning up, people started coming by."
Before that, the building was a little too easy to drive by without noticing the stand is under new ownership and selling a new product.
So what is an Italian ice?
It's not runny, like a frozen lemonade, Costavie said.
"This is thick," she said. "You have to use a spoon."
But you can easily take it into your car and work it as you drive. It's light, sweet, refreshing, somehow offering sensations from a frozen drink, an ice cream and a slush drink but not quite being one of those things entirely.
"It's got a whole different flavor to it. The taste is excellent," she said. "It's very light, very cool, very refreshing."
You can choose from nine flavors: pina colada, coconut creme, mango, blue raspberry, cherry, watermelon, lemon, rainbow and cotton candy.
Many of the shop's first few customers still thought it was a lemonade stand. Larkin and and Costaville have forced them to try the Italian ice before walking away. The vast majority have ended up buying one, including one man who demanded his money back when he realized it wasn't a frozen lemonade.
"We told him the only thing we'd do with it is throw it away," Costavile said, so they gave him his money back and told him to keep it.
"He's been back every day since," she said.
The shop also offers a catering menu and works with local groups for fundraisers.
And if you're bringing along someone who doesn't want an Italian ice, the shop offers ice cream from Blue Bunny, drinks and snacks, too.
For more information, stop by the shop after it opens around 11 a.m. daily, or call 401-944-0449.
You can follow New England Slush Company on Facebook and Twitter, too.
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