Tag Archives: Westport business

After a long and costly renovation, Bob Corroon re-opened Christie’s Country Store last August.  The economy immediately tanked.

Two weeks ago he added a separate ice cream stand.  Instantly, a cold, wet rain settled in.

Fortunately, both spots are thriving.

Bobby and Bob Corroon

The Christie’s story — how Bob parlayed his faith that the Cross Highway neighborhood (with help from Staples, Bedford and local workers) would support a 1920’s-era store, updated with 21st-century food (and tacos!) — is well known.  Now he’s replicating it with ice cream.

The 6-sided stand was built in Redding in the 1930s.  In the ’40s the Masiello family brought it to Christie’s property.  But the last cone was served years ago.

Bob is counting on the same update-the-basics formula that works for his grocery store.  The ice cream — made by Pat West, wh0 lives around the corner — comes in over a dozen flavors.  There’s basic chocalate, vanilla and strawberry; flavors like Oreo bomb, creme caramel and honey coffee, plus sorbets and gelato.

Picnic tables invite ice cream lovers to linger.

Bob’s sons — Bobby (soon to enroll at William & Mary) and Green’s Farms Academy student Nicky — run the stand.  It’s open from noon to 8 p.m.  “Or maybe later,” Bob says, in that laid-back, we’ll-figure-it-out way that made Christie’s cool again.

His ice cream will be cool too — if warm weather ever arrives.