EDISON PARK — After two successful runs as a summertime pop-up, Tony & Millie's Italian Ice Bar is carving out a permanent location in heart of Edison Park, its owner announced.
From a 1,200 square-foot storefront attached to the Edison Park Inn, 6709 N. Olmsted Avenue, owner John Geslicki and his family will sell gelato, Italian ice, and, for the first time this year, bags of coffee grounds.
After decades of trips to Mario's Italian Lemonade, 1066 W. Taylor St., Geslicki was itching to bring the frozen treat back to his native Northwest Side, he said.
"The place is so packed every summer — he's got to be making a million dollars over there," Geslicki said of the Taylor Street mainstay. "So I thought if we did something like that here, we could raise a lot of money."
Geslicki is pursuing a non-profit model for the business, he said. Any money he doesn't use to buy equipment or pay employees will be divided among Shriners Hospital for Children and the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, he said.
The shop will likely open sometime in early March, Geslicki said.
