Cullens Ice Cream Wins ‘Viewer’s Choice’ for Best Ice Cream
On a hot summer day, few things are more satisfying than a trip to the local ice cream shop.
And for the last decade, Cullens Ice Cream has offered customers in Champlin and Brooklyn Park a sweet escape from the real world.
“We built a family environment, and a community environment, that people just feel good about and feel safe and feel happy when they come in and leave,” said Chad Cullen, the shop’s founder.
Cullen opened the shop in 2014 to fulfill a dream.
“I just like creating, and when I can create an ice cream or create some sort of popcorn or something that when people try it they just, the first thing they do is they look at you and go, ‘Mmm… ooh yeah.’ Then you know you did the right ones,” he said.
This shop offers 48 flavors of hand scooped ice cream, a wide variety of vintage and specialty candy, and more bottled soda than you likely ever knew existed.
“There’s some fun ones in there,” Cullen said. “Waffles and syrup, a bacon flavor.”
A child enjoys a cup of ice cream at Cullens.
Continuing the Legacy into the Future
Put it all together, and it’s no wonder that Cullens won the CCX Viewer Choice Award as best ice cream shop in the northwest metro.
“I just feel like it’s such an honor because it means we come into a community and we did something that people really, really, really like,” Cullen said.
But after a decade of making customers feeling like a kid again, Cullen and his wife have decided it’s time to let somebody else create these delicious concoctions.
“We decided it’s time to start slowing down and let someone else take it over and grow it and expand it and enjoy it,” he said.
He says the official transfer of ownership will take place in early August.
But he wants to ensure his customer base that the ice cream shop he helped create will be in good hands.
“We wanted to make sure that whoever took it over would run it like we do and keep it up and keep the traditions up and keep up everything we were doing, and that’s very important to us,” Cullen said.
One of the changes under Cullens’ new ownership is that the ice cream shop will be open year ’round. For the past decade, it was only open during the summer months.
Chad Cullen opened Cullens in June of 2014.
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