LAND O’ LAKES — They really just wanted free ice cream.
And a pair of sisters are going to get it — and a whole lot more.
The Saleh family, of Wesley Chapel, have owned the Sunoco gas station and convenience store at 22911 State Road 54 for about two years now, but also inherited a shared space with Domino’s Pizza, which had operated its deliveries out of there for years. But the pizza chain recently moved, so the patriarchs, Mo and Amy, wanted to do something with the space connected to the inside store, and include their daughters, Leila, 14, and Nora, 12.
Inspired by the girls, the Salehs opened Sister Scoops on May 17, as a local ice cream shop and hangout spot with games, future events and more.
“We definitely wanted to make something family-friendly,” Amy Saleh said. “(Leila and Nora) already like getting the free stuff from the convenience side, but they don’t like to hang out there. We wanted to set up a place where it was family-friendly, and they can bring their friends and just hang out.”
“Honestly,” Mo Saleh added, laughing, “they just wanted the free ice cream….Really, we see a lot of kids, not only during the summer, but from the (Land O’ Lakes) Rec Center, during sports (and games) and they come here to get Gatorade or snacks, so we thought, ‘Why not make it a one-stop shop’ where you can get tacos (from Taco Time food truck), snacks, drinks and now, of course, dessert.”
Though still early in its opening, Amy says families, or groups of friends, will come to Sister Scoops not just for ice cream, but to hang out, play games, from electronic to board games, and even use the free wifi for devices. That was the whole idea, she added, as well as making it a family venture.
“They’ll hang out here for two hours, easily,” Amy said. “And the big thing is we wanted to make sure our prices are affordable, because even a big family, of like seven, it would only cost like $30 for everyone to get ice cream. We tried to keep that in mind, thinking about the regulars and community and make it a one stop ice cream shop, right on the corner.
“We also thought about it being a fancy ice cream place, but we knew to keep it simple because kids come in and are like, ‘I want the cotton candy flavor!’, so it’s not too fancy. It’s a family place for our community.”
That community already includes partnering with the LOL Rec Center, as well as nearby Academy at the Lakes to provide regulars discounts. In fact, Sister Scoops has also already partnered with its neighbor, Crunch Fitness, too.
“Believe it or not,” Amy said, “we get a lot of people from Crunch, so we made a partnership with them and EōS Fitness — a 10 percent discount for their members on both (the convenience and ice cream store). I mean, they come here in their gym clothes, so we know, and they’re like, ‘We’re treating ourselves!’”
The whole family had a hand in building out and designing the ice cream store. Leila had help from her friends doing design work from the logo and decorations, while the Wiregrass Ranch student is also working on Sister Scoops influencer status by setting up all the social media and preparing reels and Tik Toks.
“I don’t have that, so we let her set it all up,” Amy said with a smile.
And Sister Scoops already plans to expand its menu. It provides shakes and splits and sundaes, but will eventually add protein shakes for those nearby gym members, as well as add other treats, like cookies, brownies and the lot. Mo and Amy say they plan to use as many local vendors as they can, just as they did when purchasing the ice cream, which comes from Hersey.
But, for now, with Sister Scoops open, they’re content watching their daughters scoop out ice cream, with a smile on their faces, most likely because they know they’ll get a free scoop for themselves.
“That’s what we wanted,” Mo said. “We wanted a place for kids and families and anyone to come here and say, ‘Oh, there’s a basketball game, there’s board games, there’s Jenga and Guess Who and other people hanging out and just being kids or families or couples.
“We wanted a place the community would love.”
