Columbia City’s Very Own Molly Moon’s Starts Scooping in June

Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream continues its apparent takeover of the known universe with its forthcoming Columbia City outpost. The new scoop shop, the company’s eighth and furthest south, is set to open in June.

Eater first reported on the southerly expansion in July 2016. Founder Molly Moon Neitzel decided to hold off on construction of the former Subway sandwich shop until January to avoid opening an ice cream shop in the fall.

In the interim, Neitzel didn’t let the space sit idle, though. She gutted the space then donated it to various causes, including pop-up businesses and charities like Families of Color Seattle.

When Eater spoke to Neitzel last year about her new location, she was candid about the fact that she’s expanding into the city’s most diverse neighborhood in terms of ethnicity and income.

"You don't want to be accused of gentrification, you don't want to put a product into a neighborhood that seems like it's out of reach of most residents in terms of affordability," she says, "but I've wanted to be there for a long time from a job creation standpoint, and from a having shops in all parts of the city standpoint. I've been hesitant because I wanted to make sure the neighborhood could support another ice cream shop."

Neitzel added that when she opens a new store, she creates about 25 new jobs, all of which come with 100% paid health insurance, including vision and dental.

Over the past months, the company was also busy launching Mooncrew Records, as mentioned in the May 8 update of Eater’s dining news round-up. Mooncrew is an in-house vinyl-only record label aimed at promoting musical talents within its own ranks. The label assists in purchasing vinyl for distribution as well as marketing and promotion. And the network of eight scoop shops forms a natural distribution network for Mooncrew Records artists. It’s a fascinating bit of diversification for the company’s business operations.