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King Street Creamery Brings Ice Cream Parlor, Locally Owned Business to Downtown Boone

By Erika Giovanetti

July 3, 2013. Downtown Boone welcomes the King Street Creamery to its line-up of locally owned restaurants and shops. However, owner Karl Smith is no stranger to the King Street business scene.

Owner Karl Smith and his daughter Katherine Rose Robinson
Owner Karl Smith and his daughter Katherine Rose Robinson

Smith also owns Wolfie’s Deli & Subs, Appalachian Tees and Appalachian Sportswear. Smith runs these businesses with his daughter and recent ASU graduate, Katherine Rose Robinson, who came up with the creamery’s name. 

“Someday, he might own the whole block,” jokes manager Ron Sicotte.

“I opened up the ice cream parlor because I own Wolfie’s next door, and I’ve been looking for seating,” said Smith. “On top of that, every time I wanted good ice cream, I had to drive all the way to Kilwin’s [of Blowing Rock]. I knew downtown Boone needed an ice cream parlor.”

Smith prides himself on offering the most ice cream for your buck. Since he owns his business, he’s able to regulate the amount of ice cream that goes into each cone, and price it from there.

“I’m not a franchise, so my large waffle cone that I’m giving has about two ounces more ice cream [than other businesses] and is running at about $4, with tax included,” said Smith.

The King Street Creamery offers Blue Bell ice cream in handmade waffle cones, soft serve ice cream and homemade fudge. Smith hopes to expand into milkshakes and sundaes.

“I did some investigating and saw that Blue Bell has the 17 to 18 percent fat premium ice cream,” Smith said. “I also checked into Calico Fudge Company out of New York, because I knew making our own fudge by the pound is the way to do it.”

The spacious creamery is also a great place to hold birthday parties and other group events. Local groups have already started inquiring about renting out the parlor. Events may be catered by Wolfie’s, which offers Boar’s Head meat and cheese.

So far, business has been booming for Smith. The parlor is helped out a lot by downtown Boone events such as the concerts at the Jones House and Art Crawl. Smith also expects a busy Fourth of July.

The creamery offers a 50-cent discount on the waffle cones to those in armed services, firemen, policemen, sheriffs, detectives and Vietnam vets. Smith plans to donate 10 percent of the parlor’s proceeds this year to the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps raise awareness and funding for injured service members.

Smith and Robinson also plan on having school support nights at the creamery, where 10 percent of the proceeds from certain nights go to local schools. For example, if there were to be a Watauga High School night at King Street Creamery, anyone in the community could come in and raise money for that school.

“It’s local people running a local ice cream parlor. We’re looking for community support in any way,” Smith said.

King Street Creamery is located at 495 West King Street. For more information, call 828- 262-4622.

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King Street Creamery's homemade fudge
King Street Creamery’s homemade fudge