Mrs. Sprinkles offers ice cream delights, nostalgia

Mar. 7—Break away from the hustle and bustle of life with a colorfully topped sundae at Mrs. Sprinkles.

The bright, vibrant and nostalgic atmosphere of the ice cream shop brings an uplifting energy to young guests and the young at heart. The ice cream shop, at 3107 Eubank NE, is open from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. It opened Feb. 24 to crowds of ice cream enthusiasts.

"A lot of my friends on social media have been posting about it and even like a month ago when she first got the building," Jennifer Withrow, a Mrs. Sprinkles customer, said as she shared ice cream with her husband and grandchildren. "We were excited to try to come by on opening day, but it was too crowded. So, we were like Thursdays are really good, we have the grandkids, and it gives you an even better reason to have ice cream with the grandkids. We're excited that we have something like this in our neighborhood because you have to go really far to something other than soft serve ice cream."

Mrs. Sprinkles owner, Amanda Bridgman, had a vision for her ice cream shop. She wanted to bring something to the community that would make guests smile.

"I traveled a lot in my 20s, and I felt like Albuquerque was always kind of behind, I guess, when it comes (to) fun food," she said. "When I would go out of town, I would look for fun places to go check out. They were bright, they were bubbly, they were inviting. And I felt like Albuquerque didn't have anything like that and so I wanted to bring color, and I'm obsessed with sprinkles, and I have been obsessed with sprinkles my entire life. So, I was like 'Why not create a place where it is bright and vibrant?'"

The walls at Mrs. Sprinkles are covered in ice cream cone motif. The tables and chairs resemble decor taken from a dollhouse, and a playful bench resembles a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich. The fun and frivolous theme even extends into the restrooms.

Mrs. Sprinkles currently serves Blue Bell ice cream, and Bridgman has future plans to make ice cream in-house. More information on its offerings can be found at facebook.com/MrsSprinklesIceCream.

"We're not just trying to sell ice cream," Bridgman said. "We're trying to sell an experience of just fun and family time and memories and making those core memories with your family. It's not just about having the most homemade kind of ice cream in the world. That's why we try to create fun sundaes and fun banana splits and fun malts and shakes."

A popular customer pick is the doughnut ice cream sandwich.

"We get locally sourced doughnuts from Sergio's (Bakery and Cafe) down the street and they're amazing," Bridgman said. "We stuff their doughnuts with our ice cream and you can roll it with whatever you want."

Mrs. Sprinkles offers 15 flavors of ice cream. Its top requests are strawberry cheesecake, salted caramel brownie and classic rainbow sherbet. The vegan option has also been a hit .

"That is my most requested question on social media is if we carry a vegan option, which we do," Bridgman said. "It's called Cookie Butter, and it's actually phenomenal for being plant-based. A lot of people at the grand opening were actually getting samples of it and ordering the vegan option over the regular option."

Customers can keep it simple with a scoop or indulge in a sundae or banana split topped with sweet, salty and crunchy treats. There are about 20 toppings to select from.

"The top three (toppings are) Fruity Pebbles, of course the cookie dough, and then I think people come in with the ideas of sprinkles, so I think sprinkles are number one, as they should be," Bridgman said.

Outside food is welcome at Mrs. Sprinkles. Bridgman wants customers to sit, relax and enjoy the space with friends and family.

"I refuse to put a TV in here because I want people to put down their phones and enjoy their company because life is short, and I want people to realize that spending an afternoon playing a Scrabble game with their loved ones is going to mean so much more in the future than 'let's get ice cream and go,'" she said. "I want people to really enjoy their time here, so that's why we welcome outdoor food because I want them to bring their pizza here, bring their dinner here. ... People have steered away from hanging out. It's a rat race out there, and this is a place to bring back nostalgic times and enjoy time with the family."

Bridgman's path to opening Mrs. Sprinkles began in 2020 when she bought a food truck with the intent of serving breakfast. Bridgman soon realized that she did not enjoy cooking and shifted gears when she found a "cute" red, white and blue ice cream truck online. She ended up purchasing the "lemon" that took about six months to fix up and began driving up and down neighborhoods in the Northeast Heights.

"It was a lot of fun going to the neighborhoods, watching everybody jumping up and down on the streets and chasing us, even adults would chase us," she said. "It was magical. I felt like we had so much more to give rather than a one minute interaction on the truck. So that's where Mrs. Sprinkles came from, as a dream to open a brick-and-mortar."

Bridgman wanted to open her business in the Northeast Heights, where she was born and raised, and decided on the location in the Scottsdale Village.

"I love Scottsdale Village, it is very homey in here and there's a bunch of different shops in here," she said. "It feels like a safe place over here and I wanted to bring vibrancy to the shopping center. When I started painting the building, everybody was kind of like, 'Um, that's a little bright.' My neighbors I think were kind of scared, and they weren't really thrilled when I moved in. Now everybody's happy, and that's what we wanted to bring with Mrs. Sprinkles is happiness to the community."