After 27 years of serving ice cream to the Harvard Square masses, Herrell’s Ice Cream’s Dunster St. location may close as early as November.
Financial pressure from rising costs and a new competitor in town with prime real estate on Mass. Ave. snowballed into “the perfect storm†for the much-loved ice cream shop, said Herrell’s owner Jeffrey Stanett, making its continued operation impractical, if not impossible.
Instead, Stanett said he plans to open a casual restaurant by next spring in an expansion of Herrell’s current location, which he plans to call First Printer Restaurant, Bar, and Grill.
Stanett said that labor and materials expenses have grown for the store, and rent has shot upward of $10,000 per month. Consequently, the ice cream shop has not turned a profit for the past 4 or 5 months and has taken subsidies from Stanett for the last few years. Read more.