Ice cream, Italian soda, lots of candy: Sweet shop opens in a KC area that needed one
Curtis Jay bought the Kansas City, Kansas, building at 426 N. Sixth St. in October, and his original plan was to lease it out.
A boot business was interested. So was a photography studio. But Jay, who has been investing in Strawberry Hill real estate for about a decade, felt that the neighborhood could use something “a little more vibrant.”
“There are a lot of dive bars over here, which is cool at night, but until recently there hasn’t been as much to offer for the community, and for kids, during the day,” Jay said.
So instead, he slapped a pink paint job on the exterior and partnered with a friend, Lorena Perez, to create a candy and ice cream shop in the space. Hey Sugar on Strawberry Hill opened during the Third Friday Art Walk in June, itself an indication of the neighborhood’s growing vitality.
It is a kind of one-stop shop for customers with a sweet tooth. Jay and Perez (who, somewhat ironically, once studied to be a dentist) sell 21 flavors of small-batch ice cream by the scoop — favorites include Zesty Lemon and Dark Chocolate Almond Cherry — that they buy from an Indiana husband-and-wife duo called Bliss Artisan. Shaved ice and some Italian sodas are also available.
The rest is candy: Old-fashioned brands like Necco Wafers and Zotz, an Asian section with Hi-Chew fruit candies and Hello Panda cookies, and a Mexican selection that includes Malvabon marshmallow bars, Puerquitos hard candy lollipops and Sinaloense peanut candy bars. Plus a lot of the usual suspects: sour gummies, Dots, Fun Dip.
“We sell a ton of Toxic Waste, too,” Jay said, referring to the “hazardously sour” candy brand. “Kids go nuts for that stuff.”
On one wall of the space is a “camel mural” — the exposed brick beneath the white wall was shaped vaguely like a camel, so artist Tianna Hughes added a tail and eyes to it. In addition to about six tables, there are also some toys and children’s books.
“It’s a place to bring your kids for a little while,” Jay said. “So far, the community around here seems to really be responding. The closest other place to get ice cream is the River Market. So I think people are glad to have a closer option around.”
Hours are noon to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
