High Point Creamery co-owner Erika Thomas, aka “Boss Lady,” shows off a triple scoop cone of her creative flavors at the colorful new location in Central Park’s East 29th Avenue Town Center.

When people walk into the newest location of High Point Creamery, which opened mid-April in Central Park’s 29th Avenue Town Center, they’ll see what owner Erika Thomas says is the fullest expression of the brand. “I think because of our experiences the last few years, I want things to be joyful and full of love,” says Thomas, who focused on selling pints during the pandemic. “Now there’s color everywhere!”

Thomas and her husband, Chad Stutz, who serves as managing partner, weren’t planning to open a fourth location of High Point Creamery, in addition to their sister brand Eiskaffee, their Big Pinky food truck, and their wholesale ice cream business. But she was approached by the landlord of the former Cold Stone Creamery location.

Options include ice cream in cups, cones, or to-go pints plus ice cream sandwiches, pastries, and espresso-based coffee drinks.

“I thought, ‘I don’t want to look at anything else. I need a break.’ But then I came and saw that there’s a park, schools, and a library! The location is so great and walkable and there are so many people living near, I thought, ‘I can’t say no,’” says Thomas.

High Point, which Thomas and Stutz started 10 years ago, still makes everything by hand, including all ice creams, waffle cones, mix-ins like cookies and brownies, and sauces as well as natural flavorings like the mint Thomas grows, picking it in the morning, steeping it mid-day, then incorporating it into their Mint Chocolate Bark ice cream. The only difference now is that Royal Crest Dairy makes their proprietary ice cream base. The new location also sells pastries and coffee drinks. Everything is made in their 14,000-square-foot kitchen in North Denver, something Thomas never thought she’d have. But it was inevitable after expanding their business.

Thomas created sprinkle countertops at the new location, which go perfectly with sprinkle-topped treats.

High Point Creamery came about in an unusual way for Thomas and Stutz. She was an actress working in New York but had to leave to take over her father’s car dealership after his sudden passing. After that experience, she wondered what to do next.

“I was in our kitchen making ice cream. Chad came in and I told him, ‘I’ve figured it out—I’m going to be an accountant.’ He said, ‘Or maybe you can just make ice cream. It’s a happy business and it’s hard to have a bad day making ice cream,’” recounts Thomas. “I thought he was crazy because who makes a living making ice cream?”

Pints are available to-go and inspired the colors Thomas used for the walls of this location.

Thomas started thinking about her husband’s comment and went to Penn State for ice cream school (yes, there really is such a thing). That’s where she realized she could make a living at it.

“It was a tough business when I was doing the dealership, so why couldn’t I do this?” says Thomas. “One thing I didn’t want to do is copy someone else’s brand or what had been done a million times. When I first made Basil Blackberry Swirl, that was the first moment I thought, ‘OK, I can do this’ because I had never had anything like it and it was good and a balance of herb and sweet. It was completely my own invention and it gave me the confidence that I could come up with tasty flavors.”

Those flavors include Earl Grey & Shortbread, Blueberry Lemon, Tin Cup Whiskey & Pistachio Brittle, plus seasonal flavors like White Chocolate & Saffron. They also make vegan options.

With a family business, Thomas says she and Stutz work well together because they don’t work together. He handles the accounting and operations and she does all the creative work. Thomas describes it as living in two different worlds even though they’re side-by-side. That includes involving their kids, Grayson, 13, and Ruby, 11, who occasionally help out making boxes and chopping cookies.

When Thomas envisions a great day at the Central Park location, she sees a line out the door.

“I see people enjoying a beautiful night, grabbing a treat after dinner, sitting out on the lawn and a space where a teenager can go after school for ice cream with their friends,” says Thomas. “I want a feeling of community.”

Front Porch photos by Christie Gosch