‘This community needs this’

When Allen Sales considered opening an ice cream shop and cafe on Natural Bridge Avenue in North St. Louis, people warned him against it.

The stretch between Goodfellow and Union had a reputation for crime, and Sales was urged to look instead at North County or communities such as Richmond Heights. Sales saw those challenges as a reason not to overlook the neighborhood.

“My purpose for being in this spot was more important,” he said. “I didn’t want to put my establishment in North County or Richmond Heights or none of that. This community needs this — without bulletproof glass, not looking thrown together and without people with poor attitudes serving them. I chose this North Side to do this.”

Those warnings about crime didn’t come out of nowhere. Police data show that neighborhoods around that stretch of Natural Bridge have seen their share of aggravated assaults, armed robberies, vehicle thefts and break-ins. Crime along major North St. Louis corridors rose around 2020 but has generally declined in the years since.

Eight years after Sales opened Ari’s Ice Cream Parlor and Cafe, longtime St. Louis community activist Anthony Shahid is among the customers who keep coming back. He appreciates the food, atmosphere and the way customers are treated.

“I saw he had his family, a beautiful family working right along with him, and the food was so good,” Shahid said. “The food, the atmosphere, we love how the people who come in here are being treated.”

Ari’s started with homemade ice cream and Sales wanting to give his then-11-year-old daughter a taste of what it meant to start a business. Sales suggested that he and Ariana sell some of the ice cream door to door.

About six months later, while driving along Natural Bridge, Sales noticed a building and began thinking about what the neighborhood lacked — somewhere to buy ice cream or snacks, especially a place that’s Black owned. He eventually purchased and personally rehabilitated the property. Ari’s Ice Cream Parlor and Cafe, named for Ariana, opened in August 2018.

Ariana said watching her father turn an idea into a business taught her something about perseverance.

“I was honored to see my dad build something that he envisioned in his mind and see it come to life,” she said. “It wasn’t easy but he still did it, which let me know I can do the same.”

She learned about the business firsthand, working at Ari’s after school.

Food eventually became as important to the business as ice cream. Sales credits his business partner, Nelda Granderson, with the idea. “Ice cream can hit and miss, food is constant,” he said.

Granderson brought considerable family history to the kitchen. Her grandparents owned Diner’s Delight, the longtime restaurant at Park and Compton avenues, and she grew up learning to cook from her family.

After Granderson lost her job during a downsizing following an 18-year career with Scottrade, Ari’s offered an opportunity to put that experience to work.

“I cook from a background of my grandparents,” Granderson said.

Repeat customers who rave about the food and service and recommend Ari’s to others put a smile on Granderson’s face.

Speaking of the food, salmon croquettes and eggs are a community favorite. The all-day breakfast menu includes a deluxe breakfast burrito with turkey sausage or bacon, egg and cheese, and smothered potatoes. Other dishes include steak, veggie and chicken quesadillas, chicken and wild rice soup and turkey chili.

Ice cream remains part of the identity of the business, while staff members also make desserts including banana pudding, pineapple delight, caramel cake, strawberry crunch cake and 7-Up pound cake.

Despite the concerns he heard before opening, Sales said Ari’s has experienced only two criminal incidents in eight years. The other major challenge came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he said the business faced financial strain.

Sales said customers now come from beyond the immediate neighborhood, including Pine Lawn, North County, University City and Illinois.

The family remains involved. Sales, who works as a plumber, still puts in time at the restaurant after work. His oldest daughter, a doctor, also helps in the kitchen after her shifts. 

And Ariana — now 21 and a nursing student — can still be found working at the business that bears her name.