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BERKELEY'S NEWS • NOVEMBER 17, 2023

John's Ice Cream closes Downtown Berkeley location

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RUBY SAPIA | STAFF

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Senior Staff

DECEMBER 15, 2019

Berkeley’s popular John’s Ice Cream on Shattuck Avenue closed after 10 years Nov. 26, as first reported by Berkeleyside.

John’s Ice Cream opened its location in Downtown Berkeley at 2204 Shattuck Ave. in 2009. The shop offered classic ice cream flavors in tandem with more unique flavors, such as ube and avocado. The shop was known for offering its ice cream at extremely low prices — originally, a scoop of ice cream cost $1, and prices were raised to $1.75 over its years in Berkeley.

Campus junior Ken Lohatepanont, who identified himself as a “John’s Ice Cream fan,” said in an email that the shop’s low prices would be missed by the Berkeley community.

“If there is a Nobel price prize, John would have won it,” Lohatepanont said in an email. “John’s was a staple and will be sorely missed by Berkeley students.”

ASUC Senator and campus junior Media Sina said John’s Ice Cream was accessible to students in Berkeley.

“(The price) … is pretty affordable. … I know my friends and I try to stay on a budget,” Sina said. “Having somewhere cheap like that … it was a really great place.”

Sina added that the closing of a business with such affordable prices reflects a larger trend throughout the city. Campus junior Marissa Pagador also noted this trend.

“Local Berkeley businesses … are getting pushed out in favor of newer businesses like boba shops that open up every single year,” Pagador said. “I think it’s also just an issue of (it) becoming more and more expensive to have a business, or even a home, in Berkeley.”

There is also a John’s Ice Cream location in Brentwood, Calif. Owners of the company, however, were not available to make a statement as of press time.

Pagador said John’s Ice Cream had a positive impact on student life at UC Berkeley, calling it one of the “favorite spots” for students to go Downtown.

“I’m just grieving about it because that was my favorite ice cream place,” Pagador said.

Contact Sebastian Cahill at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @SebastianCahil1.
LAST UPDATED

DECEMBER 16, 2019


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