TREAT YOUR HEART OUT

After securing their firstever storefront, Little Ladies Soft Serve offers big ice cream flavors.

By Bella Czajkowski Photos by Leonardo Carrizo

Four summers ago, the Chambers family ventured to Michigan to pick up a former postal service vehicle they had purchased online — planning to DIY convert it into an ice cream truck.

The family went on to launch Little Ladies Soft Serve with the converted truck in 2018, establishing a menu full of personal touches and building up a loyal customer base. Throughout challenges and triumphs of running their business — including opening up their first ever brick-and-mortar store in November — the Chambers have maintained a familyfirst mentality.→

WE HAVE SOME JUST REALLY LOYAL FANS AND PEOPLE WHO REALLY BECOME

“We have some just really loyal fans and people who really become friends in different parts of the city,” Lydia Chambers said. “That’s been huge and encouraging. And life-giving.”

The name Little Ladies Soft Serve was originally inspired by Lydia and Will Chambers’ two daughters. The family now has three little girls — aged two, five and nine — who are each the namesake of a different ice cream sundae on the shop’s menu.→

↓ Little Ladies featured merchandise

Lydia Chambers said the family decided to open up their Westerville storefront, located at 673 Worthington Rd., after the demands of running the truck — storing everything at their home, no less — grew unsustainable. The truck was out and about around Columbus five or six days a week, each morning and afternoon.

“I just felt like we can only do this for so many years. Where we’re putting all of the pressure to make money on the truck itself,” Chambers said.

She added that Little Ladies Soft Serve’s business exploded throughout the pandemic, as people felt relatively comfortable being served ice cream outside where the risk of COVID-19 transmission was lower.

Once they settled on opening a store to meet demand and lessen reliance on the truck, the Chambers began looking for a suitable location in the summer of

2020. At one point in January 2021, they actually gave up on their search, deciding transforming an empty space into an ice cream shop would require too much upfront investment.

Then, unexpectedly, they found a location near Polaris that had previously been a Simply Rolled Ice Cream shop — reigniting their interest in launching a brick and mortar storefront. Lydia Chambers said the shop, which was already built to accommodate an ice cream business, felt like a gift.→

“It felt really kind of beautiful,” Lydia Chambers said. “How we gave up this idea, let it go, but then it came back to us.”

Now, the Chambers family is setting their sights on learning to successfully run the shop and truck in tandem. Still, their focus remains on their family and ensuring that any growth the business undergoes is, first and foremost, sustainable for the five of them.

“I think with everything we do, our first consideration is our family. Us and our girls, and the toll that it’s going to take on us. We’re kind of very plotting and methodical,” Lydia Chambers said. “If it doesn’t make sense for our family, then it won’t make sense for us.”♦

IT FELT REALLY KIND OF

HOW WE GAVE UP THIS IDEA, LET IT GO, BUT THEN IT CAME BACK TO US. " "

↑ Trio of sundaes, including he Ruby, Lola, and Dorothy

To check out a menu, visit littleladiessoftserve.com