Sweet Izzy's Ice Cream Shop (ice cream, coffee, lattes, pastries, baked good, smoothies, cookies, gifts, take-out, catering, wifi, indoor seating, dessert tables, birthday parties) located in the J.R. The story of the name, Sweet Izzy's and how it came about... My favorite grandparent growing up, my absolute idol, was my Father's entrepreneurial Father who's given name was Isadore. Isadore owned a
women's skirt factory in New York City selling his skirts to many of the big chains and department stores. He passed away when I was a pre-teen and I miss him so much, he just made me laugh and smile all the time, we were very close from what I remember. My Grandfather disliked his given name very much that his son (my father) started to call him "Izzy" as a nickname instead. Since I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was to own my own business. I used to exercise in the mall with headphones on daily, listening to motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and trying to dream up what business I can open. When I graduated from college with a restaurant management degree, I no longer wanted to be in the restaurant business (I was burnt out from working in the restaurant business for over 12 years and I started a few of my own small businesses. I started with a home travel agency business, then a chocolate making business where I was selling chocolates at a local flea market. Next I took over my Mom's web design and web hosting business for a few years. That business started to change and so I decided to take a stab at retail. I opened an online store selling boutique pet products, mostly for dogs. I built an eCommerce site a few times over, hired an assistant and that business lasted about 17 years. Part of that came from my Mother (AKA Grammy), part of it came from Grandpa "Izzy". When my only child was born, my husband and I named her middle name after my grandfather, "Isabella". My father has always called our daughter "Izzy". Combine all of those factors together and that is where Sweet Izzy's name was born from! While my daughter was young back in New York, I was heavily involved in her school PTO's and PTA's. I organized and planned many of her school dances and events. I even did dessert tables for some of the school events over the years. I did a lot of fundraising for the PTA's and PTO's and I enjoyed helping out and making the kids smile. My greatest hobby was planning and executing my daughter's insane themed birthday parties each year, from soup to nuts. About 3-4 months before each year's birthday in August, I got into party planning mode and never stopped until the day after each party. I would dip chocolates and make these crazy cakes and insane candy/dessert tables. I would plan the entertainment, craft my heart our and go to all ends to style the parties. I loved making the kids smile, that's what it was all about for me and it was something I was just completely passionate about. Everyone always said I should go into party planning but I never wanted to go into business doing it. I thought I would be too meticulous and never be able to make any money that way. I always knew I wanted to incorporate my party and dessert table skills into some sort of business but just didn't know into what. I fell really ill and couldn't work as hard for a few years (eCommerce is VERY hard), I ended up closing down my pet business and selling it. My husband and I decided to make a move down south for a better, less stressful life and to be able to survive on one salary for a few years while I got healthier. Chapin was very similar to the town on Long Island we lived in, Wading River, it was just warmer and had a bigger mix of people from different places. We moved here with 25 people from New York and New Jersey and we fell in love with Chapin. The minute I got here I was still going through some major medial issues but I knew I wanted to open a business here, I just didn't know what yet. My dream was always to open a store front (that started from my love of hosting garage sales and selling lollypops to kids in middle school!). I kept looking around Chapin saying to myself, what is Chapin missing and whatever it is, could that fit in with my experience and passions? And then it hit me, ice cream was missing from Chapin, especially good soft serve (which I grew up on) and I realized maybe I could finally incorporate my party and dessert table skills into a real store front business. And that is how Sweet Izzy's was born. I "Jumped" and I haven't looked back since!
