Village Ice Cream

Village Ice Cream opened its first shop in Victoria Park in June 2012. After a slow first year, the business started gaining traction in the summer of 2013. Unfortunately the shop was submerged when the Bow River flooded the city that June, but owner Billy Friley rebuilt the shop and customers flocked to it. In fact, the shop became so popular that Village Ice Cream has since opened two more scoop shops in two of Calgary's most up-and-coming neighbourhoods: Britannia and Marda Loop.

Billy’s mandate is to create delicious ice cream using fresh seasonal and local ingredients: “I love getting back to basics with food,” he says. “I’m not much of a trend guy. You could argue that boutique ice cream is a trend right now but if it is, I think that trend is here to stay.

“Everybody loves ice cream,” he adds. “It’s a really fun business to be in because people always have a smile on their face when they come in. As long as it’s rich, creamy and tasty, our customers are going to be happy.”