Since Missouri-based ice creamery Clementine’s debuted in Prairie Village last fall, it hasn’t taken long for the shop to feel like a part of the neighborhood.
“It feels like we’ve always been there,” said founder Tamara Keefe. “It’s just a wonderful neighborhood to be a part of, and (we’ve been) welcomed with open arms.”
Soon, the St. Louis-based ice cream shop will officially put down roots in another part of Johnson County.
Later this year, Clementine’s will open a new shop in Lenexa.
Clementine’s is coming to Lenexa City Center
- The ice cream shop will open in a newly-built space off Elmridge and 87th Street at Lenexa City Center.
- It will come as part of the ongoing AC Hotel & Residence Inn by Mariott project, which includes a new hotel and other new commercial tenants.
- Clementine’s will be near the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center and Lenexa Public Market.
Clementine’s serves “all-natural” ice cream
The Lenexa parlor will serve the same flavors that Johnson County customers have come to know in Prairie Village.
Keefe said some of the shop’s best-sellers are gooey butter cake, salted caramel cookies and cream, and Italian butter cookie.
Clementine’s is also known for its wide swath of dairy-free flavors, for which Keefe said the shop has garnered a “massive cult following”.
Some of the best-sellers on that side of things include lemon poppyseed, chocolate coconut fudge and Billie’s tahini chip, which is a product of a partnership with Kansas City eatery Billie’s Grocery.
“You can’t tell that they’re non-dairy ice creams, and that’s really hard to do,” Keefe said. “For anybody that has any kind of dietary restriction, we probably have something for them.”
This will be Clementine’s 2nd Johnson County location
Lenexa City Center has seen much recent growth, with new Tupelo Honey and Enjoy Pure Food + Drink opening in a development the city has dubbed “Restaurant Row,” with more planned on the way.
But so far, ice cream hasn’t been a part of that.
Riding the wave of growth in that area and filling that gap is something Keefe said she’s looking forward to.
“Ice cream parlors are very much an American thing that should be part of every new community,” she said.
Behind Clementine’s is a personal story that stretches back to Sunday afternoons in Keefe’s childhood.
Keefe has been making ice cream since she was a kid, when it grew into a family ritual after church.
“It was kind of the power of ice cream that changed my sense of community, and that’s something that stayed with me always,” she said. “It kind of became my thing growing up. Some people choose to play golf or play chess — I always made ice cream.”
Before opening an ice cream shop of her own, Keefe previously worked in the food industry, including with some large consumer packaged goods companies.
Those years taught her how mass-market foods are made. Ultimately, that convinced her she wanted to do things differently.
“I didn’t want a product like that,” she said. “I loved the way that I made ice cream, from scratch, with great all-natural ingredients, with homemade chunks of deliciousness in them.”
Ultimately, Keefe said, ice cream is more than a dessert. It’s a way to be present.
“When you’re holding an ice cream cone, you’re not holding a phone,” she said. “You’re going to actually connect and talk and create memories, and that’s the best and most beautiful thing about ice cream. It makes everyone’s life better.”
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