Ample Hills Creamery to Reopen Astoria Store Thursday
Ample Hills Creamery in Astoria (QueensPost)
July 22, 2020 By Christian Murray
Ample Hills Creamery, the popular ice cream purveyor, is reopening its Astoria store Thursday after its exit from bankruptcy.
The company is reopening two other stores tomorrow—one in Prospect Heights and the other in Chelsea. The openings represent the first steps taken by Schmitt Industries, an Oregon-based company that acquired the bankrupt creamery in June.
The creamery, founded by the husband-and-wife duo of Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna, was established in 2010 and quickly grew to operate out of 13 locations. The couple filed for bankruptcy protection in March after experiencing financial difficulties.
The couple left the company following the June sale to Schmitt Industries.
“It is with deep sadness that Brian [Smith] and I have made the painful decision to move on from Ample Hills,” wrote Jackie Cuscuna in a post on company’s Instagram page on July 6.
Ample Hills in now in the process of reopening nine locations—including the three tomorrow– in coming weeks. It will also reopen its Red Hook factory.
The company plans to rehire all 200 employees, a spokesperson for the creamery said.
The 34-02 30th Ave. location will reopen Thursday and will operate between Monday – Thursday from 1 p.m. – 8 p.m., Friday – Saturday from 1 p.m. – 10 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.
A small candlelight vigil was held in Sunnyside Thursday to mourn the Asian American and Hispanic American victims of two mass shootings in California earlier this week.
LaGuardia Community College recently received more than $400,000 in federal funding to enhance and expand vocational training for underemployed New Yorkers in a city that is still working to recover from COVID-19 pandemic-induced job loss. The support was secured by U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and former Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney.
LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams explained that the school lost nearly a quarter of its students at the height of the pandemic due to the economic effects of the lockdown on low-income Queens households.
In an effort to get more young people involved in civics, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has created a new advisory panel known as the Youth and Young Adult Council to introduce the “youngest and fiercest” community advocates to both community service and organization.
Members of the advisory body will advocate concerns through means of community engagement by participating in one of two cohorts. The first will be made up of high school representatives between the ages of 13 and 17, while the second cohort will be comprised of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25.
More than 300 community members attended the historic inauguration of Assemblyman Steven Raga as the first Filipino American elected to office in New York state.
Many who attended the swearing-in event at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park wore traditional and cultural attire to the event at the building that once housed the General Assembly of the newly formed United Nations from 1946-50 until its current home in Manhattan became available for the world body.
Council Member Robert Holden, who represents the Queens neighborhoods of Ridgewood and Glendale, says that electric scooters and electric bikes are putting New Yorkers in danger and has introduced legislation that would ban them until they can be properly policed.
The Queens/Astoria Post has obtained wild video footage of a crazed SUV driver mounting a sidewalk in Astoria Monday afternoon and then plowing into the side of a fruit and veg store—before knocking a 56-year-old woman to the pavement.
The city council rejected a rezoning application last week where the owners of a Northern Boulevard site in Woodside planned to build an auto-dealership.
Applications are now being accepted for a scholarship program that was set up to honor the life of a boy with Autism who tragically drowned nearly a decade ago.
So many great things happening. What great times to be living in. Everyone loves ice cream!
except for the lactose intolerant and diabetics, which supposedly is half the population. thanks Coke and Pepsi!