Downtown ice cream shop closing

A downtown ice cream shop that got its start during the COVID-19 pandemic is closing.

Sweet Emotion, located at 211 E. Walnut St., announced on Facebook that Dec. 22 would be its last day in business. A Kansas City location that launched in 2021 is remaining open.

The ice cream shop, which brands itself as Sweet EMOtion as a nod to the emo and pop punk musical genres, started in late 2020 as a walkup window of the Outland Complex music venue and bar venture on South Avenue, according to past reporting. It relocated around the corner to its current location last year.

"Owning and operating a small business with a super specific niche is difficult, but it’s been what we are about and what we stand for. We educated ourselves on so many allergies/dietary restrictions in order to get to the place we’re currently at," the Facebook post reads, citing "rising costs on supplies/ingredients so we can provide these super specific items to the community, increased staffing costs so our family is taken care of, still dealing with so much that was put into the brick-and-mortar location and months of slow sales at this location."

"It’s something we’ve battled for over 6-plus months, but tried to fight as long as we could. It’s so insanely hard out there for small businesses and they all could use support more than ever," the post reads.

Sweet Emotion was registered as a fictitious name with the Missouri secretary of state's office in 2020 by James Kochs. The Walnut Street building owner is 211 E Walnut St. LLC, according to Greene County assessor records.