Ribbon cut on ice cream, pizza shop in Stuart

Tyler and Sadie Kleppe, originally from eastern Iowa, manage an apartment complex in Council Bluffs. As they would travel there from their previous home in Des Moines, they would need a place to stop and stretch. Oftentimes that place was Stuart.

Fast forward a few years and the Kleppes decided to open a new business in Stuart.

As they were looking for real estate one day, they discovered they didn’t have place to take their kids for ice cream, so that’s the kind of business they decided to open.

The Stuart Scoop began at 117 NE 2nd Street earlier this summer. A grand opening and ribbon cutting was held Saturday, July 30.

They’re also a location for Northern Lights Pizza.

“This is really exciting. It’s really all of our hard work paying off,” said Sadie, who has a background in architecture. “We’re really thankful for how warm of a welcome we’ve received since we’re not originally from the Stuart area. As soon as we bought this building we wanted to breathe life back into it and make it a place to be.”

While Sadie’s sister, Miya Messerich, is store manager, many of the shop’s employees are high school-age kids from Stuart, which is another source of pride for the Kleppes as they are instilling a sense of responsibility and pride in these kids.

“We’re super excited,” Tyler said. “The community’s been great.”

The Stuart Scoop and Northern Lights Pizza is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.