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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Van Leeuwen, the New York ice cream brand known for its rich, custard-style scoops and its dairy-free flavors, opens its first Alexandria location on Thursday, June 18, at 400 King St. in Old Town.
To mark the opening, the shop is offering $1 scoops — or frozen yogurt — from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and free tote bags for the first 100 guests, according to the company. Van Leeuwen says the Old Town store is its first in the D.C. region to offer frozen yogurt. Opening-day hours run from 11 a.m. to midnight.
The shop occupies a roughly 1,030-square-foot space at the corner of King and South Royal streets, on the ground floor of the building that also houses The Alexandrian Old Town hotel. It opens next door to Life Alive Organic Cafe, the plant-forward restaurant that began serving at the same address on June 9, completing a two-tenant lineup for the redeveloped storefront.
Van Leeuwen began in 2008 as a single yellow truck in New York City, started by brothers Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O'Neill, and has since grown to more than 100 scoop shops nationwide. Its signature is a French, custard-style base made with a higher share of egg yolk than most ice creams, giving it a dense, rich texture, alongside a longtime following for vegan flavors built on cashew, oat or coconut. The Alexandria shop is the brand's latest in a fast-growing D.C.-area footprint that already includes stores in Arlington and elsewhere in Northern Virginia.
The arrival adds to a crowded summer for Old Town's frozen-dessert scene — fitting for a city Forbes once called the "Ice Cream Cone Capital of the United States."
