People holding their ice cream treats walk out of Miller Bros. Creamery in Mount Clemens on Saturday afternoon. (MITCH HOTTS — THE MACOMB DAILY)
The iconic Miller Bros. Creamery neighborhood ice cream shop in Mount Clemens is up for sale.
Owners of the decades-old art deco stone building, that sits on a triangular piece of property on Dickinson Street at Rathbone, say Miller Bros. is known for its Blue Moon ice cream, along with dozens of other flavors, subs, pizza and other food items.
Asking price for the 1,100-square-foot community staple is $300,000, according to a real estate listing published by The Monzo Group.
Glen Deceuninck, the shop’s current owner, said Friday that he hopes to sell because of a pending job offer out of state.
“It’s a family appliance store down in North Carolina,” Deceuninck said. “And I like warm weather. I told my wife it’s time to head down South.”
The announcement comes a few weeks after the death of former owner Irene Szlachtowicz, who was fondly known as “Oma” — German for grandmother. She operated Miller Bros. Creamery for 56 years after immigrating from Germany in 1954.
According to city officials, Miller Brothers was founded in March 1923 when the Miller family bought out the Schrade Dairy. In 1968, the company stopped bottling milk and manufacturing dairy products, with the exception of ice cream. In 1971, Miller Brothers was bought out by London’s Farm Dairy of Port Huron.
Szlachtowicz, who was fondly known as “Oma” — German for grandmother — had been working as a manager there. She purchased it in 1982.
In 2018, she sold the store to Deceuninck, who operates it today.
“We renovated the whole back area, the kitchen and cooler,” he said. “I’ve got $50,000 in the pizza kitchen alone.”
Deceuninck said he may duplicate the Miller Bros. concept and bring it to the Tar Heel state. He hopes the store will continue on in its mission to the community no matter who is the owner.
If he can’ find a buyer, he said the shop will remain in the family.
