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Pistachio's Sweetens Up Downtown
The sweet smell of fresh waffle cones is as overpowering as the bright yellow walls. The smiles and laughter give the cool shop the warm feeling of home. Students and parents share this new Main Street shop as a place to relax, study and socialize. It's about time Radford added some sweetness into the community mix. Pistachio's recently opened in April 2004. So far, this new business venture for the Rhoads' family looks promising. When planning for the business, the Rhoads knew they wanted a place where teenagers, like their 17 year-old son George, could get their first job and gain experience. They also wanted a place where people of any age could come to relax and enjoy sweet treats. Debbie Rhoads, who owns and operates the store with her husband of 26 years, said she envisioned a place for students to be able to walk to. She wanted a place where they could feel at home. "They could do their homework and they could hang out, but that wasn't generic," said Rhoads. "It's a great place to go hang out. It just has a fun atmosphere, and ice cream is such a feel-good food. A friend of mine was having a bad day, so I stopped by there and brought her some ice cream. I mean, ice cream just makes you smile," said Radford University student Jessica Forestiere. When scouting out locations, Rhoads said she knew the spot was perfect when she was next door in the Coffee Mill and noticed it was available for rent. "We had seen that in a lot of cities there were ice cream shops right next to coffee shops and we thought, 'Perfect,'" said Rhoads. Putting together Pistachio's took about six months from start to finish. The space was completely gutted and rebuilt. While coordinating contractors, electricians and plumbers took some patience, the end result shows no signs of the frustration. The Rhoads, who just moved back to Radford four years ago, made decorating the space a family affair. "I wanted something that was going to be real cool for the high school and the college kids to come hang out, as well as the junior high," said Debbie. Here employees seem to enjoy it as much as the customers. Debbie explained that she finds her employees will hang around in their off-hours, because they feel so comfortable. "I love it," said Lea Deaver, one of Debbie's student employees who described the work environment as "very laid back." That's not the best thing about the job, according to Deaver. "You can eat all the free ice cream you want," she said. But Deaver warns that never-ending free ice cream is not always such a good thing. The biggest challenge in keeping Pistachio's up to par is maintaining correct temperatures in the coolers. Ice cream must be kept at specific temperatures and stay defrosted. Of course, keeping all surfaces clean is daily task when you are working with sticky, runny treats like ice cream. So what is the sweetest temptation Pistachio's has to offer? "Anything in a waffle cone," said Debbie. Customers often enjoy their scoop of sweetness in the fresh, homemade waffle cones the shop turns out by the hour. As far as flavors go, Debbie said customers seem to be straying away from the traditional flavors and going for new creations like Superman, Sponge Bob SquarePants and Reese's. However it's definitely the waffle cones that the customers demand. The cones are made fresh everyday. "Everybody likes the fresh homemade waffle cones that we make," said Debbie. "We think we have enough and all of a sudden we're out of them."
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