And Now The Latest Scoop On The Ice Cream Shop

By Kaaren Valenta

Charlie and Wendy White loaded their furniture into a moving van this week and handed the keys to their home and The Ice Cream Shop to the new owners, Lenny and Paula Schaible.

“It’s very difficult to let go — I miss it already,” Wendy White said. “We will miss all the people, all the wonderful smiles. But the timing was right.”

“Lenny and Paula are great people – that makes it easier,” Charlie White said.

The Whites opened The Ice Cream Shop on Church Hill Road in 1969. Hundreds of high school students have worked there over the years, serving millions of cones, sundaes, milk shakes, ice cream sodas, avalanches, zebras, and other ice cream treats. The Whites also owned The Ice Cream Shop in Woodbury, a business that has been turned over to their daughter, Leighan, and her husband, Dean.

For the Schaibles, Charlie and Wendy’s decision to retire came at just the right time. The owners of a liquor store in Woodbury, they were looking for a seasonal business.

“I’ve had enough of the liquor business,” Mr Schaible said. “I’ve been in it for more than 21 years. I had a bar and restaurant in Seymour, the Trestle Tavern, for 10 years and then owned Country Spirits in Woodbury – right near The Ice Cream Shop.”

A native of Shelton, Lenny Schaible served in the US Air Force for four years, then came home, met and married his wife and went to work for Keyrite, a manufacturer of insulating cable in Shelton for the next 10 years. The Schaibles settled in Oxford, where they raised their daughters, Stacy, now 27, and Allison, 24, and also operated a part-time florist business, growing thousands of annuals in greenhouses in the Quaker Farms section.

Paula Schaible has always been involved with keeping the books for the family businesses and when the girls were older, she also helped in the liquor store. Now their house in Oxford is up for sale and they plan to move into the house on Church Hill Road soon. They’ve been working with the Whites for the past month, learning the ice cream business.

“Everything will stay the same,” Mr Schaible promised. “The same staff, the same equipment, the same ice cream.”

Charlie and Wendy White own a condo in Woodbury and plan to move there eventually. But right now it’s occupied, so they are putting their furniture into storage and will do a little traveling.

“We’re going to hop into our van and become gypsies,” Wendy said.

In 1954 Charlie White’s parents bought a piece of land at the corner of Routes 6 and 64 in Woodbury and opened a Dari DeLite. Five years later, Charlie White took over the business and turned it into an independent operation. A few years later, he attended a Rutgers University program about ice cream making and met Hank Wilson, a South African who wanted to open a store back home in Port Elizabeth. When Charlie White went to South Africa to help his friend, he met Wendy, who was working at the ice cream shop there. Four years later they were married.

In 1969, when their elder daughter Leighan was three months old, they opened the ice cream shop on Church Hill Road in Newtown and moved into the 100-year-old house next door. In 1974 they moved the house to the back of the one-acre lot, to provide more parking, prompting Charlie White to quip – to this day – “The next time I move, I’m not going to take the house.”

The Ice Cream Shop is one of a select few that still make ice cream, a point of pride for the Whites. It’s also a seasonal business, beginning in March most years and closing in the fall when the clocks are turned back and it gets dark early. The Schaibles anticipate closing at the end of this month or early in November, depending on the weather.

“We’ve got the ‘Gone Fishin’ sign ready,” Mr Schaible said.

The property also includes an adjacent building that most recently housed Paula’s Café. Mr Schaible said he believes he has a new tenant, a hairdresser, lined up to occupy the space.

Mike Struna of Advantage Realty, who co-brokered the sale with Patti Meyer of Bob Tendler, said more than 50 potential buyers looked at The Ice Cream Shop.

“It was incredible,” he said. “Usually we have only three or four people.” Listed for $749,900, the property, including the house, the shop, and the adjacent building, sold close to the asking price, Mr Struna said. Bill Valentine of Valentine Realty in Oxford represented the Schaibles in the transaction.