New scoop: Beloved Wilton Creamery is gone on Wilton Drive. Its successor wants to be ‘even more campy.’

Two days before his beloved Wilton Creamery closed on Christmas Eve, co-owner Daniel J. Colby unveiled his shop’s 916th and final whimsical flavor: “Santa Snax,” a brown-butter treat stuffed with crushed sugar cookies and festive sprinkles. It sold out the next day, and Colby bid well-wishers goodbye after 11 1/2 years, blaming high rents on Wilton Drive for his exit.

Count Frank Spadea, a Wilton Creamery fan, among those wishing the shop a fond farewell. The theater producer and ex-owner of Dudes Barber on Wilton Drive soon swooped in and signed a lease on the space, which reopened Feb. 5 under a fresh moniker that pays homage to its predecessor in name and vibe: Jazzberry Creamery.

“I had to act pretty fast,” says Spadea, announcing his takeover in a Dec. 28 post. “I didn’t want something else going in and for the community to lose a nice ice cream shop. Ours will be a little different. We’re selling pints and quarts and sundaes and shakes, just like Wilton Creamery, but under different names. Most people will find what they were accustomed to.”

That includes staffing. Spadea says he has rehired three former Wilton Creamery employees, including new general manager Quinton Welsh. The shop also retains its industrial loft-style look, though there are upgrades, including new freezer cases, digital menu boards (replacing the old chalkboards), clubby purple track lighting, purple epoxy floors, and an upstairs DJ booth next to black leather and cow-print seating.

Its lavender walls are adorned in cheeky art prints of banana splits (“Split Happens, Darling”), cherry-topped rainbow scoops in high heels (“Stiletto Swirl”) and soft-serve in drinking glasses (“Flirtini Sundae”).

“We’re playing with the names and generally trying to be even more campy. This shop is meant to be more irreverent and adult-like,” says Spadea, a Fort Lauderdale native who has, among many roles, also booked music acts at Hunters Nightclub and The Parker and theater shows such as the recent “Lights Camera Toot” at nearby Gray Box Theater.

Jazzberry Creamery is the sister location of Jazzberry Scoops, which Spadea opened in October 2024 in Fort Lauderdale’s Imperial Point neighborhood.

Both locations source their premium flavors, all with 14% butterfat content, from ice cream wholesaler Ice Cream Club Inc., which operates an 18,000-square-foot plant in Boynton Beach, he says.

And while he doesn’t know if he’ll ever sell 916 flavors in its lifetime, as his precursor did, Jazzberry already has a head-start: The scoop shack features 52 varieties including Insta Graham (crumbled honey graham crackers, dark-chocolate waffle cone pieces), Bear Claw (dark chocolate, cashews, caramel ribbons) and Eyes Wide Open (coffee-flavored), plus a 35-item toppings bar stocked with five whipped cream flavors, fudges, nuts, gummy bears and Heath bar pieces.

There are also root beer and cream soda floats, warm add-ons including brownies and pineapple cakes, coffee and hot chocolate.

And, yes, Jazzberry plans to eventually sell a differently named version of Wilton Creamery’s fan-favorite He’s Not Worth It, featuring vanilla and English toffee sweet cream with Oreo and Heath pieces and swirls of sea salt caramel.

“I just want to keep the place going,” Spadea says. “If I make a profit, fine. I’m not here to capitalize on things. I just want a nice place for people on the Drive to visit.”

For his part, Colby wishes Spadea success but insists that Wilton Creamery isn’t ready to sleep with the Swedish fishes, rest in waffle cone pieces or cross the rainbow sherbet bridge quite yet. He’s “waiting for the accountant to tell us what we can afford” he told the Sun Sentinel, either in Oakland Park or Pompano Beach ahead of a new lease signing.

Jazzberry Creamery is at 2301 Wilton Drive, Suite C4, Wilton Manors. Visit JazzberryCreamery.com or call 954-395-1134.