GIRARD TWP., MI — Looking for a sweet treat to help you cool down this summer? Our readers selected the Country Cove Store at 840 Union City Road as the best place in Branch County with more than 73% of the votes in our poll.
Bill Uren and his son Jeff have scooped ice crem for 29 years at the small store and bait shop on the west side of Craig Lake, the top lake of the north chain of lakes.
The Girard Store on Marshall Road sold ice cream for years but has since stopped.
“We’re on the lake with water access almost up to our back door with seven campgrounds on this chain. That was one of our main ideas, so people can actually boat up to it,” Bill Uren said.
With temperatures in the 90s on July 4th, the store set a sales record, only to break it on Saturday, July 5.
“We had lines winding around in the store all day,” Bill Uren said as he scooped ice cream Monday, July 7 for families and individuals who drove or boated to the store.
Open seven days a week from 8 a.m., they close at 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Most popular flavors
The store carries 30 regular flavors and rarely changes, “Unless something comes out new we think might be a big hit,” Bill Uren said.
The family has sold mostly Hudsonville Ice Cream since it opened. “Bill said,
“Because it’s the best ice cream. We’ve had a lot of customers tell us that if we ever quit selling Hudsonville, they won’t be back,” Bill Uren said.
The pair handed out cones, cups, and sundaes with toppings, whipped cream, and cherries.
Open year-round, locals and people with campers and homes on the lake drop by when they come to check on their properties.
The Urens are not sure how long the store stood on the site. They bought it 31 years ago, and it took almost two years to fix up the property.
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Readers have chosen: What’s Branch County’s best place for a sweet treat this summer?
Reporting by Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter / Coldwater Daily Reporter
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