Mayday Ice Cream has officially opened its first location in St. Petersburg, adding a new destination for ice cream enthusiasts to the city’s culinary map.
Situated at 627 Central Ave., the new ice cream spot is co-located with The Hyppo, a popular ice pop shop that has recently undergone renovations. The shared space will now serve The Hyppo’s ice pops and handmade ice cream from Mayday, which has locations throughout northeastern Florida, Lakeland, Tampa and Ybor City.
“To say we’re excited about this joint venture would be an extreme understatement,” owner Stephen DiMare said in a prepared statement. “We like to take classic flavor combinations – sweet and savory – and bring them to the next level. We have tons of fun creating unique and crave-able flavors.”
“We always wanted to bring it to St. Pete, so we looked at this space, and it is so big, so we thought, ‘Why not bring it into The Hyppo as well?’ This way, we can bring the best of both worlds together,” said Alyssa Bantad, Director of Marketing for Mayday Ice Ceram and The Hyppo.
Bantad said this is the company’s first co-branded store and will act as a trial run for other potential co-branded locations in the future.
The company is hosting a grand re-opening all week to highlight the new shared space, offering 50% off of the frozen treats from both brands and a limited-edition ice cream flavor only available at Mayday this week: a Spanish olive oil ice cream infused with rosemary and sea salt.
The shared store in downtown St. Petersburg is the company’s first jointly-operated location.
“I think that The Hyppo and Mayday Ice Cream fit very well here in St. Pete because it is such a community-based place,” Bantad said. “[The company] started in St. Augustine, and that is where we really took what community is, and from then on, we chose different locations that embrace that same feeling of home. People look at The Hyppo and see it as their neighborhood pop shop, regardless of where it is. We love that, and that’s what we want Mayday to be, too.”
While Mayday’s ice cream is generally dairy-based, many of The Hyppo’s frozen pops are vegan. She also believes the company’s approach to food quality will appeal to St. Pete residents and visitors alike.
“Everything is handmade. We make our own sprinkles, we can pack every pint that you’ll find here and we make every popsicle. The fruit starts from the beginning; we’re getting it straight from the growers and then we’re washing it, peeling it and incorporating it into the ice cream. Nothing is frozen, it’s all fresh fruit. I think people can tell the amount of love that goes into everything, so we’re excited to see how the community embraces it and see where else we can go from there.”
The store is located at 627 Central Avenue and is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
