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On a recent afternoon, we poked our head into New Canaan Music for another edition of our Biz on Biz feature, where we ask one local merchant to pick a personal favorite item or service at another shop. This time we talked with store owner Phil Williams to hear what items or services in town caught New Canaan Music’s eye.
Phil Williams (left) pretends to play a chocolate guitar for friend and co-worker Dan Fiore (right) inside of New Canaan Music. Credit: Alex Hutchins
As it turned out, it was the chilling Italian ices at their neighbor’s shop, The Candy Scoop, that yielded the most praise.
“We like the Italian ices over at Candy Scoop because they’re great and our students love them—there’s nothing better after a music lesson than an Italian ice,” Mr. Williams said.
“However, there’s nothing worse than an Italian ice before a lesson because of the sticky fingers,” Mr. Williams added with a smile.
Lauren Palladino stands behind the Italian Ice freezer inside of Candy Scoop. Credit: Alex Hutchins
Next door, co-owner Lauren Palladino gave us the scoop on which flavors of Italian ice were the most popular and what makes them so appealing to New Canaan residents.
“The most popular flavors would definitely be the lemon and the blue raspberry and what people really love about it is that we used to have Italian ice in New Canaan at the old Sweet Shoppe, but since then it has not been in town until we brought it back,” Ms. Palladino said. “They love that it’s something light and on those really hot days if you don’t want ice cream then they’re perfect.”
Ms. Palladino also noted that the popularity of the Italian ices at her store (the first two-time Biz on Biz nominee, as well as winner of “Best Candy Shop” in the recent “Best of the Gold Coast” picks from Moffly Media) was also a result of its allergy-friendly qualities.
“A really popular thing about the Italian ice is that it’s allergy-friendly. Every flavor but chocolate is nut-free, gluten-free, and cholesterol-free,” she said.