Little Man Ice Cream Goes Nostalgic for Third Store Opening This Year

Photo by Ben Giese. 

Little Man Ice Cream Company, the now Colorado institution, in September opened its third new shop this year (its sixth overall). The latest brainchild of Paul Tamburello, owner of Little Man, Dang officially opened its doors on Sept. 20 and of course has its own unique twist.

Dang introduces soft serve ice cream and french fries to the Little Man family with a unique building design that draws on nostalgia across generations. “Dang boldly combines the spirit of 80s NYC street artist Keith Herring, the vinyl generation of New Wave Rockers and a touch of mid-century modern twisting it all up to embrace something entirely new,” says Basha Cohen, director of marketing at Little Man Ice Cream company.

The space was designed by Melissa Friday and Dana Ensing from Denver-based interior design firm Xan Creative and is located in the newly designed mid-century strip mall, Oneida Park. “With the reinvention of Oneida Park, Dang was the perfect place to create a hipper, modern approach for our brand’s expansion,” Tamburello says.

Soft serve is a new venture for the ice cream company, but with thirty toppings and french fries to dip, the ice cream is far from the traditional soft serve swirl. Dang will offer eight flavors daily, including two vegan options. On opening day some of these flavors (which can also be twisted together) included black raspberry, caramel corn, iced matcha, nilla eclipse, lilikoi, mexican chocolate as well as orange dreamsicle and chocolate ganache, as the vegan options.

Photo by Harry Warters

Tamburello and Little Man Ice Cream have transformed the way that Coloradans experience ice cream since the 2008 launch of its ice cream can shop in the lower highlands neighborhood of Denver. The company has since launched five additional ventures: Sweet Cooie’s, a 1940’s jewel box ice cream parlour; The Constellation, a replica of the 1940s Constellation aircraft in Stapleton; Churn, a 26-foot tall ice cream churn in Fort Collins; The Factory, inspired by Willy Wonka, where customers can watch the company’s ice cream and baked goods being made; and now Dang. Constellation and The Factory both also launched this year.

Plus, with its scoop for scoop programs, each location donates to a unique charity or cause with every scoop purchased. Some of these causes include donations to women’s charities, STEM education programs, agricultural programs, to artists and musicians in the Park Hill neighborhood and food donations to developing nations and locals in need.

As for what’s next for the busy company? A Little Man outpost at the Denver International Airport in Concourse C, opening any day now. And then, a well-deserved break. “We look forward to taking a breather after our enormous growth spurt to ensure that our systems are dialed in and that we create the ultimate experience for our guests,” Cohen says.