Just over two years after debuting in Webster Groves—and a little more than a year after expanding to City Foundry STL—Sylvie Dee’s continues to grow. Sylvie Dee’s Clayton location, located at 8115 Maryland, the longtime home of The Posh Nosh, held its grand opening on October 3.
The new location delivers the same nostalgic mix of ice cream, candy, coffee, and soda fountain favorites that popularized the first two shops, but also introduces the company’s biggest addition yet: an in-house pastry program that will supply baked goods to all locations.
Here’s what to know before you go.
The Concept
Like its sister stores, the Clayton shop pairs an ice cream shop and old-fashioned soda fountain with coffee and a candy store. Guests can expect scoops of premium ice cream, sundaes they call “Saturdaes,” ice cream and cookie sandwiches, milkshakes, floats, affogatos, and Sylvie Dee’s signature ice cream nachos. Local roaster Vapore Coffee remains the coffee supplier, though that menu will be intentionally streamlined out of respect for neighboring Colombian coffee specialist Zensia.
The headline addition is a full pastry program, with the Clayton location serving as the company’s production kitchen. Melissa Ragsdale, owner of Ragsy Pastry, has moved her operation into Sylvie Dee’s dedicated baking facility. Along with pastries, the expanded program will allow the company to offer custom cakes, ice cream cakes, and other specialty desserts.
“People assume we’re only an ice cream shop, no matter what we do,” Closson says. “Adding a full pastry component should change that perception and let the public know we’re a whole lot more.”
Besides ice cream, the menu includes customizable old-fashioned sodas with standard flavors, along with seasonal offerings ranging from pumpkin spice to brown butter toffee. Closson sees the current “dirty soda” craze as simply the modern evolution of the classic soda fountain tradition.
Sylvie Dee’s freezer case offers 16 ice cream flavors, including unusual options such as Raspberry Chip Cheesecake, Salty Jack, Banana Pudding, Vegan Mint Oreo, and Bake Shoppe. For those looking for an ice cream equivalent of a combo platter, the shop also offers flights featuring six tasting scoops.
“No matter what we’re serving,” Closson says, “I want people to know we feel we’re serving the best.”
That philosophy extends to products sourced from across St. Louis, from some locally made ice cream to Meggie Mobley’s Webster-based, hand-painted Bijoux chocolates.
Candy remains a major draw, and the Clayton location will feature the company’s largest selection to date. Alongside nostalgic favorites (formerly called “penny candy”), guests will find an expanded assortment of premium and hard-to-find confections, including imported treats that have become a hallmark of the brand. The new shop has devoted a wall to roughly 40 varieties of Swedish candy, including Kolsvart Swedish Fish made without artificial colors or additives.
The Space
The Clayton location fills what Closson describes as an obvious gap in the neighborhood.
“I was shocked there wasn’t an ice cream shop in downtown Clayton,” she says. “It was the perfect ‘duh’ opportunity.”
Following a substantial gut renovation, guests will find the same bright, playful aesthetic that defines the Webster flagship, with crisp white finishes, colorful ice cream-themed artwork from Gretchen Lewis, and whimsical touches. The shop will be significantly larger than the Webster location and includes a long, narrow patio that will be furnished with tables and chairs. In Webster, the outdoor space also includes a small ice cream playset and sidewalk chalk to decorate the brick pathway and walls.
“That’s one of the reasons we were attracted to that space,” Closson says. “It looked and felt just like [our place in] Webster.”
The shop joins a busy stretch of eateries along Maryland Avenue, including Oceano Bistro, Herbie’s, Jinzen, Five Star Burgers, Almond’s, Half & Half, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, and Zensia.
The Backstory & Further Expansion
Sylvie Dee’s opened its flagship shop in June 2024 in the Old Webster area of Webster Groves. (The name combines Rachel’s late grandmother, Sylvia, with Dee, a family name on her husband, Jay’s side.) The concept quickly developed a following for its blend of premium ice cream, specialty coffee, nostalgic candy, and classic soda-shop fare before adding a second location at City Foundry STL in May 2025.
Clayton becomes the brand’s third outpost and represents its most ambitious expansion to date, serving not only as another neighborhood gathering place but also as the operational hub for its growing bakery program.
The Clossons have also broadened their footprint in Webster Groves with the purchase of Maypop, the garden center and coffee shop on Marshall Avenue that’s tucked behind trees and shrubs. Renamed Maypop & The Marshall House, Clossen has renovated the interior and is adding a kitchen, part of a transformation into what she calls “a discovery space that most locals have yet to discover.” It hosts monthly classes, Friday night after-dark dinners, drag bingo, and an intriguing event called “astral herbal pop-up readings.”
Sylvie Dee’s
📍8115 Maryland, Clayton
⏰8 a.m.–9:30 p.m. daily
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