By Carla Kolbe

Express Editor

NORTHVILLE — The village was scooped this past weekend as Jennifer Henze and her husband Scott opened the Village Scoop Ice Cream Shop at 142 S Main St.

The shop opened Saturday and by Tuesday evening, an exhausted but still enthusiastic Jennifer Henze was almost out of everything.

“I felt terrible as people were ordering and I had to tell them were were out of that,” she said.

Henze’s hard ice cream supplier told her she was given enough ice cream for her opening week. During the weekend, Henze had to call her supplier and order more after her opening day. By Tuesday night, she was almost out again.

She was able to get in more soft ice cream to keep up with the opening weekend demand, and keep customers satisfied.

“It was always a dream of mine to open an ice cream shop,” said Henze. “I had worked in an ice cream shop growing up near Ithaca, and worked in the business through college.”

With her past ice cream business experience, and the assistance and support of her husband and family, Henze was ready for the new venture.

Like any new business, the expectations were high, and hopes of great success were being counted upon, but never was the initial success expected.

Henze needs to bring in more coolers and freezers to sustain her business, as she is learning the demand of the operation.

The store is located in the former home of the village barber shop, which was there for more than 40 years and owned by Bill and Sally Gagne, also of Northville. The timeless building, looking like something out of an old-time picture book, has lost its red and white barber pole (now an addition to the Northville-Northampton School House Museum), but still sports the red and white striped awnings.

The Henzes’ new business had to prepare by meeting all of today’s codes, and updating the electrical work to meet the demands of the new freezers and equipment, but yet maintains its old-fashioned, small-town charm, which quite possibly is adding to the draw of the patrons.

The Village Scoop Ice Cream Shop is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. until Columbus Day weekend. Henze plans to serve up some interesting soft ice cream flavors as the seasons turn, keeping her patrons always satisfied. The shop will re-open by the beginning of May for the annual villagewide garage sale weekend.

“This has been awesome and so much fun,” Henze said. “A bit exhausting, but we’re ready for week two.”