Chinatown Ice Cream Factory to Add Second Scoop Shop on Lower East Side

Historic ice cream shop Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has been chosen as one of three new vendors in the New Essex Street Market when it reopens fall 2018. It’s the first expansion for the beloved, family-owned Chinatown ice cream store, which peddles American classics alongside Asian-leaning flavors, such as black sesame and taro.

Second-generation owner Christina Seid said in a press release that she chose the market for the shop’s second location because of its “small local, family feel.” Beyond Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, the other new vendors are Essex Shambles, a downtown expansion of Harlem butcher Harlem Shambles, and Zerza, a fast-casual version of the Lower East Side Moroccan restaurant.

The search for new vendors by New York City Economic Development Corporation is part of the market’s move into its sleek new home across Delancey Street in one year, where there will be the addition of two full-service restaurants and 11 new vendors.

The move for the market has been a very long time coming, as part of Essex Crossing, a multi-block urban renewal development that encompasses 1.9 million square-feet of residential, commercial, and community space. Of the nine buildings in the development, beneath three of them will be the marketplace called the Market Line, which will include the Essex Street Market.

The New Essex Street Market sits on Essex between Broome and Delancey. There will be 39 vendors total; it’s public and mission-driven and will remain so in the move.

• All Coverage of Essex Street Market [ENY]