If you’re a fan of ice cream, then you probably know that a Museum of Ice Cream has been created in 2016, and has opened with several locations in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami. The interactive art installation has allowed Millennials to frolic around the colorful exhibits and take hundreds of pictures for their Instagram accounts, while being given the opportunity to try interesting ice cream flavors. Well now, the Museum of Ice Cream has opened another interactive grocery experience to the public with the Pint Shop.
What is The Pint Shop?
Location: 459 W. 14th Street, New York, NY 10014
Hours: Monday-Sunday (Closed on Tuesdays) 12-9 PM
Price: Grocery Area – free to the public; Tasting Room – $28 per person
Before the workers tell you themselves, the Pint Shop is not a museum, but it’s an interactive grocery experience where you sample flavors, take cute photos, and purchase the Museum of Ice Cream’s own ice cream pints and flavor-inspired merchandise.
There are two components to the experience: the grocery space and the Tasting Room. While the grocery area is open to the public – you do need to wait in line though – the Tasting Room only accepts reservations. The Tasting Room is more exclusive, and for good reason, because those who purchase tickets will be given the chance to get a more in-depth look into the making of the ice cream while wearing pink lab coats. In addition, the Pint Shop will host weekly interactive workshops with Museum of Ice Cream members and social influencers.
First Stop: Ice Cream Samples
The first thing you’re asked to do is head to the sampling station where you’re allowed to pick one out of the seven flavors to try. There’s a nice lady who hands out the samples, and she can answer any questions you have about the flavors.
Second Stop: Photo-Ops
It wouldn’t be a complete experience without being able to post it on the Instagram feed. With that in mind, The Pint Shop includes four main photo opportunity areas (excluding the grocery aisles): three large pints of ice cream and an ice cream truck. The first pint is a Cherrylicious pint which contains a “pool” of cherries. The second pint contains a lifesaver swing, and the third Nana-Banana contains a hanging banana wall. On the other side, there’s a cardboard ice cream truck.
Personally, I thought the photo opportunities were a cute idea, although not really original, as I had seen a similar concept in another art installations.
Third Stop: The Ice Cream Pints
There are seven Museum of Ice Cream owned ice cream flavors: Vanillionaire (vanilla with wafer cookies), Churro Churro (cinnamon with churro bits), Chocolate Crush (chocolate with milk chocolate flakes), Cherrylicious (maraschino cherry with sugar cookie bites), Piñata (vanilla with iced animal cookies, frosted cupcake bites, fizzy cotton candy, and rainbow sprinkles), Nana Banana (banana with salted caramel almond butter swirls), and Sprinkle Pool (vanilla with rainbow sprinkles). All pints are $4.99 in The Pint Shop. Starting in mid-July 2018, they will be sold in Target!
When I went to The Pint Shop’s ice cream experience, I purchased the Cherrylicious and Piñata flavors. As a cherry lover myself (where are my cherry-lovers at?), I absolutely loved the Cherrylicious flavor. It was light, fluffy, and tasted exactly like maraschino cherries. The Piñata flavor was super sweet since it is vanilla ice cream layered with all the extra sugary toppings, but I enjoyed it as well because who doesn’t like vanilla ice cream with the works? In general, what I liked about the ice cream was that it wasn’t rich, heavy, or dense.
Grocery Aisles
After browsing through the aisle of the Museum of Ice Cream’s flavors, there’s also designated flavor-inspired grocery merchandise aisles, which is perfect for snapping pictures. Unfortunately, since these aisles were so #instaworthy, it was difficult to take your time and look through the merchandise because people were always taking up the aisles to take their photos.
When you do have the time to browse through the merchandise after taking photos, you’ll notice that some of the merchandise includes more than just ice cream flavors, and has actual merchandise you can take home and use. You can buy things like flavor-inspired hats, water bottles, enamel pins, mugs, sprinkles, fruit plush toys (like cherries and bananas), and reusable cups and straws.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I thought it was a great experience, especially with the heat wave New York is having this summer. From the beginning to the end, the workers created a fun but also efficient experience. There’s usually about 20-30 people in line most of the time, but this prevented over-crowding and you usually don’t have to wait that long.
I went on a Monday afternoon, and there was a good amount of people, but it wasn’t too crowded, thanks to the workers. The Pint Shop is located next to the High Line so there will always be a good number of native New-Yorkers and tourists stopping buying for a “cool” experience (see what I did there?). The Pint Shop is definitely something to put on your summer bucket list, but don’t worry if you miss your chance to visit and try the ice cream because The Pint Shop will be selling its exclusive flavors in Target this July!