Van Leeuwen Ice Cream store coming to Greenwich

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, a national chain offering made-from-scratch dairy and vegan ice creams, will open its first Connecticut location on Oct. 1 in Greenwich.

The new store is a homecoming of sorts for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen, who are Greenwich natives and first entered the ice cream business 20 years ago with a rented Good Humor truck. The Van Leeuewen brand was established via an ice cream truck in New York City in 2008 and has since expanded into storefronts in New York, California, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas; the brand is also sold in grocery stores including Stop & Shop and Whole Foods.

“We are so excited to bring Van Leeuwen to our hometown,” said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO. “It”™s really special that our first suburban location takes us full circle to the place where we first brought smiles to people”™s faces through ice cream back in 2002 before the brand existed. We look forward to sharing good ice cream, made with good ingredients, with the community where we grew up.”

The shop at 375 Greenwich Ave. will offer $1 scoops of all ice cream on opening day from 12:00 p.m. to 4: 00 p.m.