HANSON — You scream, I scream…
Heidi’s Hollow is open for the season.
There is plenty to scream about including new owners and the same great ice cream.
Taking the reins this week, new owners Candace Reich, a longtime Pembroke resident and her partner Maren Rojas, are ready for a sweet summer. The couple has officially purchased the shop and longtime owners Tony and Lynda Quigley (lovingly known as Ma and Pa) are signing off after three decades of scooping. They are retiring to Myrtle Beach, S,C., where Tony sees a lot of golf in his future.
With the summer came changing temperatures and coronavirus creating new “normal” for everyone, Reich and Rojas have kept everything the same including the delicious and ever-popular Richardson’s Ice Cream. They are also welcoming a few new flavors that will soon be on the menu.
Heidi’s Hollow is offering party packs to serve four and eight to have an at- home ice cream party.
Social distancing is uncomplicated with plenty of outdoor seating in bright blue chairs and benches along the shadow area of the fence. Several picnic tables with umbrellas allow for open-air eating and plenty of breathing space.
Heidi’s Hollow started out in the Myette’s Country Store on Liberty Street within five years they outgrew the space.
Their home was built in 1820, and it made sense to add on the ice cream shop remaining in its current location ever since.
Chatting with the residents and locals- many who have become friends- is the element they will miss the most, said Tony Quigley. He was quick to say they would be returning for visits.
“You always remember your first ice cream shop that you loved,” he said with a laugh.
For Tony it was Charlie’s at Field Corner in Dorchester. Little did he know for Reich it was Heidi’s Hollow of Hanson.
Reich, who comes from a family of entrepreneurs, sat with The Express this week and recalled as a high school freshman that he drew up a business plan for successfully owning a bakery and ice cream shop. She kept that childhood plan, and the dreams, always reserving the thought that if opportunity arose she would pursue it.
Tony who always had frozen food in his life as a grocery stocker during Vietnam and before as a kid hustling popsicles —he made a dime on the beach walking the sea shore with a bag of dry ice and frozen treats. During a rafting trip he had a dream that he bought an ice cream shop and told his wife the next morning when he awoke. Lynda was a longtime nurse and also needed a change. She set out to secure a small business loan, according to Tony and the rest is history. They didn’t know the first thing about running an ice cream shop but they taught one another and three decades have proven the pair had sugar in their DNA.
“It’s sort of sad,” said Tony who reminisced about their shared memorable times but ice cream makes everything happy, he said.
Seeing families expand by generations and revisit year after year for a cold treat and chitchat … are just a few things the Quigley’s said they will miss as they retire and cherish the most.
Tony spoke highly of a former employee that began her first job with Heidi’s as a teen and grew up like a daughter with the Quigley’s. She has become a success in her career, has a family and is still in their lives.
Reich said when her family set out for ice cream as kids they would devour Heidi’s ice cream and imagine how pleasant and adventurous it would be to own Heidi’s. Little did she know her vision would evolve and three decades later would be reality.
The charm of the established shop and their countless childhood memories at the delicious ice cream shop were also deciding factors on buying the shop.
The couple who are both still working full time (Rojas a longtime established professional collegiate soccer coach is now a consultant for Sport for development and Reich is in sales) they are like a well oiled machine. Maren calls herself the ‘executor’ keeping the books and running the business side behind the scenes they agree that Candace is the ‘visionary’.
They emphasized their appreciation for the generous time the Quigley’s have given to make a smooth transition in the changing of hands.
The extensive local family of Reich is also at the shop and pack a cone like it’s nobody’s business. They have all been supportive and have also grown up on Heidi’s sundaes, said Reich. Green Hanson has streamlined the use of paper cups versus Styrofoam cups in July- one slight change that patrons may notice.
They accept debit and credit payments now and offer window pickup as they abide by CDC’s COVID guidelines on social distancing.