Courtesy of Boardwalk Waffles
Blueberry Cheesecake ice cream includes graham cracker crumbles.
Tower Grove Creamery (3101 S. Grand) will close this Sunday, June 12, and make way for a new Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream location, slated to open July 1.
The closure was first announced in a statement from Tower Grove Creamery on Facebook: “With sadness in our hearts, we must tell you that it is now time for us to make changes in our lives as we transfer the shop to the dynamic Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream people.”
Courtesy of Boardwalk Waffles
David and Beulah Ann McCreery opened Tower Grove Creamery in 2010. As owners of the shop’s building for the past 40 years, the McCreery family never planned on running an ice cream shop but got into it when a tenant fell ill and they couldn't find someone else to carry on the business. “We got into the ice cream business basically by accident,” David says. “And it turned out to be really enjoyable for us.”
Tower Grove Creamery has been a staple of the South Grand neighborhood for the past 12 years, serving ice cream from Jefferson City’s beloved Central Dairy in cones, cups, sundaes, sandwiches, and pies. The shop provided jobs to many Saint Louis University students and high school students over the years.
Courtesy of Boardwalk Waffles
Chocolate waffle bowl and vanilla ice cream topped with Ghirardelli’s chocolate syrup, At Boardwalk Waffles, syrups (including caramel and white chocolate) are complimentary.
When the McCreery family was approached months ago with the idea of opening Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream in the space, they were impressed by the business. “We talked to several possibilities, but the operation that Eric [Moore of Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream] has created is very family-oriented and social,” says David. “We liked it—we liked what he’s done.”
For Moore, one key to the equation was a huge preexisting walk-in freezer that Boardwalk will be able to use. “It was a good fit for us and a way to expand our brand into that neighborhood, which I used to live in,” says Moore, who lived in the neighborhood in the mid-2000s.
Courtesy of Boardwalk Waffles
Beach Trash, Boardwalk Waffles' number one seller, includes house made vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups, Butterfinger pieces, and M&M's
The signature item at Boardwalk is the sandwich—a hot, Belgian-style waffle that's made to order and loaded with ice cream. It’s a twist on a classic Jersey Shore treat. Ice cream flavors include Gooey Butter, Cookies & Cream, Island Beach Fudge, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Chocolate Almond, Cookie Monster, and more.
Boardwalk has also recently done away with outside-sourced ice cream and rolled out its own house-made variety. “That’s been going ridiculously well,” says Moore. “We can’t make enough to keep in stock. Literally, we are running 10 hours a day manufacturing ice cream for the stores, and we still run short.”
In expansion mode since its debut in 2017, Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream currently has locations in Maplewood, South County, and Soulard. “Between [the new South Grand location] and the upcoming North Grand location opening, that covers a really nice swath of the area for us.”
