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Handmade in Gastonia, NC

Downstairs Ice Cream — Ice Cream for Ice Cream PeopleDownstairs Ice Cream

IceCreamforIceCreamPeople

Small-batch scoops made by hand by a former schoolteacher with a wildly good imagination. Come down and find your people.

The Scoops

Find your flavor.

Small-batch, made by hand, with no artificial flavors or colors. The classics are here all the time — the rest rotate, so don’t get too attached.

  • Vanilla Bean

    Classic vanilla ice cream made with premium Ugandan vanilla beans.

    Here All the Time
  • Double Chocolate

    Silky chocolate ice cream that tastes like the best chocolate milk you've ever had.

    Here All the Time
  • Best Seller

    Cookies + Cookies + Cream

    Oreo ice cream with Oreo and chocolate chip cookie crumbles.

    Here All the Time
  • Best Seller

    Brown Butter Pecan

    Our take on a southern classic — the caramel nuttiness of brown butter and glazed pecan bits.

    Here All the Time
  • Orange Creamsicle

    Extra creamy, super nostalgic orange ice cream with a swirl of our vanilla bean.

    Here All the Time
  • Cotton Candy Clouds

    Blue cotton candy ice cream with clouds of marshmallow ice cream and sprinkles.

    Here All the Time
  • Milk + Honey

    Sweet cream ice cream with a bright, natural sweetness from honey.

    Here All the Time
  • Chocolate Freckled Mint

    Mint ice cream with fine, crunchy dark chocolate freckled throughout.

    Here All the Time
  • Mango Sorbet

    Exotic and tropical sorbet that's so creamy you won't believe it's dairy free.

    Here All the TimeDairy-Free
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter

    An oat milk ice cream that's half chocolate, half peanut butter, and all dairy-free goodness.

    Here All the TimeDairy-Free
  • The Million Dollar Scoop

    A collaboration with the Gaston Community Foundation — brown sugar vanilla ice cream loaded with cookie dough and swirled with rich salty caramel.

    Flavors of the Month
  • Cold Brew Latte

    Creamy and smooth cold brew coffee ice cream with just the right amount of pure vanilla (and no caffeine).

    Flavors of the Month
  • Autumn Sangria Sorbet

    Cranberry, orange, and grape juice sorbet with splashes of pomegranate and all-natural ginger ale.

    Flavors of the MonthDairy-Free
  • Spumoni

    An Italian classic made with our double chocolate swirled into pistachio and cherry ice creams.

    Flavors of the Month
  • Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake

    Fall-spiced pumpkin ice cream swirled with rich cheesecake ice cream and Biscoff cookie crumbles.

    Just for a Lil While
  • Spiced Cran Apple Sorbet

    Cranberry and apple cider sorbet spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

    Just for a Lil WhileDairy-Free

All ice creams are churned in house and may come in contact with common allergens, such as eggs, wheat, soybeans, tree nuts or peanuts. If you have any allergy concerns, please alert your scooper.

Made by Hand

An ice cream shop run like the best classroom you ever had.

Downstairs started where the best ideas do — a little out of nowhere. Before the shop on Main Ave, it was a farmers-market trailer called Screaming Cold Treats, complete with a yeti who took the cold very personally.

These days it's run by a former schoolteacher, which is exactly why it feels the way it does: intentional, a little silly, and dialed up to recess energy. Every batch is made by hand, in small numbers, with the kind of care that used to go into a really good lesson plan.

Polished, never childish. Whimsical, never cheap. A Sunday-after-church scoop with a third-grade imagination — that's the whole idea.

“Life is Cooler! Downstairs”
— the Downstairs creed
Come Down

Find us on Main.

We're right on East Main Ave in downtown Gastonia — look for the dripping cone and the cream lattice in the window.

Hours & info

111 E Main Ave

Gastonia, NC 28052

Opening hours
Sunday1:00 PM – 6:00 PM
MondayClosed
Tuesday1:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Wednesday1:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Thursday1:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Friday1:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Saturday1:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Free street parking right out front on Main Ave, plus the public lot a block over.

Life is Cooler! Downstairs