farewell, steel city
Artisanal popsicle purveyor suddenly closes all Houston locations
Houstonians looking for a cool treat will now have one less option, with a popular local popsicle shop offering up some chilling news. Steel City Pops announced the closure of its three Houston-area locations, The Heights, Rice Village, and Sugar Land, as of November 1.
In what the pop shop dubbed a “very un-cool announcement,” the company explained in a press release that in order to “keep a healthy, growing business we need to scale back the number of stores we’re operating.” Other Texas closures include Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas-Fort Worth. The company will maintain Texas stores in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based mini-chain first opened its first Houston location in The Heights, followed by Rice Village and Sugar Land. The menu of Mexican-style paletas offered fruit flavors like blueberry-basil, pineapple-jalapeño, and strawberry lemonade as well as creamy flavors like avocado, chocolate, and vanilla bean, and cookie pops (ice cream with pieces of cookie); all were gluten-free. A four-pack averaged around $11.
Steel City locations were famous for being family friendly, “with a large room that's basically just for children to run around in,” as CultureMap previously noted.
While apologetic in the statement, the company promises that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Steel City Pops. Plans for vending — appropriately called Pop Carts — as well as “wholesale relationships” are in the works.
