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Hand-dipped ice cream has officially returned to the Manchester town square with the new Mercantile Café Ice Cream Shop, located at 109 W. High St, which officially opened for business Saturday, April 1.

Featuring Blue Bunny ice cream, owner Renee Holt said the ice cream shop is located in the same building as the café, but the entrance is just around the corner.

“We are going to offer eight hand dipped flavors that will vary from week to week,” Holt said.

Holt said she has sold ice cream in the past, and it is something her customers would like to have again so she decided to offer it.

The area where the ice cream shop is located is in a separate gift shop area, previously used as a holiday pop-up shop.

“We have a gift shop upstairs and we have a gift shop down here, but this one is more towards outdoors, summer and garden type things,” Holt said. “We are going to serve the ice cream out of this gift shop and there may be some times like on Saturday afternoons where we may even have the food truck out here.”

In addition to hand-dipped cones, the new Mercantile Ice Cream Shop will be serving up classic treats like banana splits, hot fudge ice cream cake as well as root beer and orange dreamsicle floats.

“We are also going to have some sundries, so we are going to have like ice cream sandwiches and cookie ice cream sandwiches,” Holt said.

Holt said that while right now she just wants to see how things go with the ice cream shop, she is hoping to add soft serve ice cream and possibly frozen yogurt in the future if everything goes well.

“But that is going to be down the road,” she said.

While the ice cream shop is officially open for business during The Mercantile’s regular store hours, Holt said she will be hosting a grand opening in May, and hours for the ice cream shop will be extended for the summer season.

Holt said it is important to her to see the Manchester Town Square continue to grow and do well, and ice cream is just one more amenity for visitors and locals to enjoy while exploring the different shops around it.

“I was born and raised here, the square has always been of sentimental value to me and that is why I wanted my business on the square,” she said. “So if I can do anything to improve the square and to add to it that is what my goal is.”