CP photo: Kimberly Rooney
Twisters Soft Serve Ice Cream on Main Street in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood
Argenas is selling the business and all of the equipment at 4210 Main St. for $350,000. He began informing people of his intention to sell several weeks ago, both through a sign on the property and a text list that requests “serious inquiries only.”
“It's been 22 [seasons], and me and my wife's been running this, but just you know, a lot of changes. My son's getting married, my daughter's off to college now,” Argenas told Pittsburgh City Paper. “It's time to just move on to a new chapter.”
Joe and Jennifer Argenas opened Twisters in 2000, and Argenas hopes that the next owner will continue the business as an ice cream shop, hopefully selling the same products he’s sold for the last 21 years, including a variety of soft serve, hard ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes, Italian ice, flurries, and slush puppies — which are slushies mixed with soft serve ice cream.
“If I have to pick and choose, you know, I'm not looking for a developer to come in and do something else or change the whole format around,” Argenas says.
While the building itself, with its off-white sheet siding, signature red awning, and brightly colored ice cream-related signage, is not currently for sale, Argenas is willing to consider offers. However, he says he is otherwise content with remaining the property owner and landlord.
Argenas says he’s gotten a lot of inquiries so far, making him optimistic about being able to sell. For him, it was important to sell during ice cream season so that potential buyers could come in and see the business’ operations. If he is unable to find a suitable buyer, however, he plans on coming back next season.
“We're not closing, we're not going out of business. We're not moving to another location,” Argenas says. “If it doesn't sell, I'll be back here in the spring.”
