One of Colorado Springs’ favorite ice cream shops is moving downtown.

The Ice Cream Lab, formerly located at 6628b Delmonico Drive, will reopen at 122 N. Tejon St. William Yeager, the owner of the Ice Cream Lab, hopes to have it open and running this weekend. All that remains is a final inspection from the health department, he said.

Ice Cream Lab eyes future growth by tapping into downtown Colorado Springs history

Yeager is joining a somewhat crowded field downtown: Lolley’s just opened a new location and Josh & John’s Ice Cream has been open downtown since 1986, moving to its current location in 2020. But Yeager is confident, saying the Ice Cream Lab is different and offers some of the freshest ice cream in the city.

“With us, (the ice cream) starts out as a cream and it is made right in front of you,” he said, adding that it freezes almost instantly because of liquid nitrogen. He estimates it is about three times creamier than fresh gelato.

Part of what drives the creaminess is the liquid nitrogen, which freezes the ice cream so fast the water and fat particles stay very small, according to the Lab’s website.

The building now housing the Ice Cream Lab was previously home to Michelle Chocolatiers & Ice Cream, which operated from 1954 to 2007. It was a popular hangout in downtown, and Yeager is working on a way to honor Michelle’s legacy, he said.

“When you walk in, there’s a brick wall to the right and I’m gathering photos and anything I can find … to put together a (collage) where you can come in and see the history of Michelle’s,” he said.

The future of the Ice Cream Lab may also not be bound to Colorado Springs city limits, Yeager said. Way back when the business first started, some investors happened to wander in and bought some ice cream. They were immediately taken and said the business should go national through franchising.

Several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of moves and restarts, prevented that from happening. Now, however, Yeager is working with FMS Franchising to take the Ice Cream Lab to Texas and Florida, he said.

The move to downtown was, in some ways, a long time coming. The owners of the building had been trying to bring him there for many years, Yeager said. But for a time, he was happy with the Delmonico location.

But rent kept increasing, and the customer base kept growing and Yeager knew he needed to find a new, bigger space. Luckily, he knew just where to go.

The Ice Cream Lab’s last day at the Delmonico location was Sunday, June 28, according to the company’s Facebook page. Since then, Yeager has been working to get the downtown location open as quickly as possible.

He missed the entirety of July, one of the busiest months for ice cream shops.

“That hurt,” Yeager said. “It’s time for bigger and better things … I’m hoping the customers will show up and show out like they’ve always done.”