By MORGAN ROE The Reporter
Feb 28, 2024
Special to The Reporter
Ice cream lovers look out for the new Cold Stone Creamery coming to Albertville this summer.
Cold Stone has been making fresh ice cream, cakes, smoothies and shakes with the finest high-quality ingredients for over 30 years. Cold Stone gives customers the opportunity to create their own signature ice cream. All ice cream is made fresh in house. Once you pick one or more ice cream flavors, you can add a variety of toppings such as candy, cake, fruits or nuts to be mixed together on a slab of frozen granite stone.
If you’re unsure of what to mix for your own ice cream, you can pick one of Cold Stone’s Signature Creations, such as “Pie Like You Berry Much,” “Going Bananas For Jello-O Pudding,” “Apple Pie A La Cold Stone,” “Cookie Doughn’t You Want Some,” “Chocolate Devotion” and many more.
Before this year, the nearest place to get Cold Stone was in Huntsville. Durand and Jessica Bearden, avid ice cream enthusiasts, decided the trek to Huntsville was too much every time they wanted the frozen treat.
“We love ice cream and we love Cold Stone, if we ever want Cold Stone we have to go to Huntsville or Chattanooga or Trussville. We knew that there were none around locally and we thought it would be the perfect fit for Albertville and the surrounding community,” Jessica said. Jessica and her husband own several business including Bearden Transportation, which they’ve had for almost 20 years.
The Beardens started looking into Cold Stone in October of 2023, when they reached out to the franchise. They filled out the application and got accepted.
“One thing we noticed, is that the city of Albertville, over the last few years, has grown tremendously. There’s a lot of tourism that comes in,” Durand said.
“With the new rec center they just built, the Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater, we knew it would be a good fit.”
They put out some feelers on Facebook to see if the community would be interested in getting the creamery. The initial post blew up, receiving 496 shares and 100 comments. The community has given tremendous support for the incoming Cold Stone.
“We got over 95% hands down; everyone was excited about it. It made us feel good that we were bringing in something good to the community, that way no one would have to drive that far for great ice cream. We’re here and local,” Jessica said.
Most recently, the Beardens have secured the location for the creamery, right next to Buffalo Wild Wings near the intersection of Alabama 75 and U.S. 431. While they are unsure of when they will open, they are hoping to be up and running sometime this summer.
Anyone interested in applying for a job, should email scoopsofheavenicecream@gmail.com for an application, or stop by Bearden Transportation in Douglas to pick one up.
The Beardens would like to give a special thanks to Mayor Honea and the community for their support and Lee Hicks with Impact Reality for helping them find the right location.
