Take a look inside: How a Penns Valley ice cream shop turned a pharmacy into its new parlor

Riddle’s Ice Cream Shop, a Penns Valley hot spot, has reopened at a new location where the owners hope business will be abundant.

The shop’s new, bigger location is where many might not expect an ice cream shop to arrive, though — the building of the former Penns Valley Pharmacy, at 4576 Penns Valley Road.

So, how exactly does a building that once housed a pharmacy turn into an ice cream shop?

“To be honest, it’s taken a while to get things settled,” co-owner Kristen Riddle said. “Being here will definitely take some getting used to, but I know that I already enjoy our new location and I hope the customers will as well.”

It all started in 2023 when owners Kristen and Andy Riddle noticed that the lease on their former building near Spring Mills was ending.

Instead of renewing the lease, the Riddles decided on making a change and moving three miles east for a couple of reasons.

“While the spot we had in Spring Mills was nice, it was a really small building and everything on the inside would always be so cramped,” Andy Riddle said. “Because it was so cramped on the inside, during the summer it would always get really hot too.”

Because of that, along with the large crowds that would gather outside of Riddle’s during ice cream season, a location change was necessary.

That’s when the Riddles found the out that the building that once housed the Penns Valley Pharmacy was up for lease, and they sprang on the opportunity. The family started moving their business to their newly-leased building in December and, since then, has been working toward its recent opening.

Turing a pharmacy into an ice cream shop may seem like a trying task, but the Riddles found the move to be almost seamless.

“Because this new location is about five time bigger than our old building, we’ve got so much storage that we didn’t have before,” Andy Riddle said. “It made it pretty easy to take our equipment from location to location and just put things wherever we had to — the space here is abundant and because of that, we’ve even got room for some indoor seating.”

What used to be a checkout window at the pharmacy has turned into a counter to place orders at. The open space where medical equipment, supplements and over-the-counter medicines were displayed has been transitioned into a seating area, and the space behind the counter where pharmacists kept the prescription medication has been transformed into the kitchen, where all menu items are prepared.

The interior has been painted with bright pink, light blue and white. And the floor has been entirely redone as well, with black-and-white checkered tiles to emulate the appearance of what an ice cream shop looked like in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Although the design of the shop has come together as nicely as the Riddle family could’ve hoped for, another important factor could be where, geographically, the shop is now located.

“One of the best parts about this new building is that it’s located on Route 45, directly across from the high school,” Kristen Riddle said. “Cars drive on this road way more often than they do through Spring Mills and we’re hoping that students can just come right over here after school or a practice and get a scoop or two of ice cream. ”

Riddle’s Ice Cream Shop is in its sixth year of business in Penns Valley, and Kristen and Andy Riddle see no signs of slowing down just yet. In fact, the two owners are hoping to add freshly made mini-donuts to the menu this summer, along with an outdoor seating area.

“We’ve got plans potentially for this summer to add mini-donuts to the menu, but we’ll see how business at the new location goes before we make the call on that,” Andy Riddle said. “We also want to add a deck out off the side of the building for people to seat themselves at as well. We’re going to have picnic tables for outdoor seating already, but we think a deck would look really nice too.”

All in all, after five years of operating Riddle’s Ice Cream Shop, the family is hoping that this new location is going to establish the shop as the predominant ice cream destination in Penns Valley.

Riddle’s Ice Cream Shop’s will have open hours from 3:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with hours set to change after Memorial Day.