Love Creamery

Nicole Wilde’s delight for serving ice cream began with her first job. She says it was the “people’s adoration” that won her over for choosing ice cream. “I wanted to purse a product that challenged my education and interest in organic farming,” explains Wilde, a marketing instructor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

About three years ago, Wilde launched Love Creamery. It’s an artisan twist to making ice cream that employs a farm-to-cone model using locally sourced ingredients.  One of her first business debuts was as a vendor at the 2015 Lincoln Park Pop-Up Shop that was hosted by Duluth LISC and Advancing Lincoln Park. She recalls her work during graduate school in Wisconsin where she was involved in their Main Street Revitalization efforts. To her, the energy of Advancing Lincoln Park and the success of the Lincoln Park Craft Business District made it a natural choice for the location of her retail store.

With financing from Duluth LISC, the Entrepreneur Fund and a local bank, Wilde’s dream to open an ice cream café at 1908 W. Superior St. is just months away.  Lars Kuehnow, Duluth LISC’s Neighborhood Development Officer, explains, “LISC supports small businesses like Nicole’s through a partnership with the Entrepreneur Fund. We provide the Entrepreneur Fund with financial resources to make storefront enhancement loans and facilitate Advancing Lincoln Park.” A combination of energy, morale support and technical assistance, Advancing Lincoln Park, is attracting new businesses to the Lincoln Park Craft Business District. Ecolibrium3 is another LISC partner in the mix helping to revitalize the Lincoln Park neighborhood through innovation and support to entrepreneurs and residents.

For now, you can purchase Love Creamery single serve ice cream or pints to go at Duluth Coffee, Amity Coffee, Cedar Coffee in Two Harbors or New Scenic Café.