Supermarket News

The second-longest-running Tom Thumb in Dallas gets a makeover

The store is also one of the smallest.

Courtesy photo

One of the oldest Tom Thumb stores in Dallas has been given a makeover. The store is at 10455 N. Central Expy., in the Meadow Central Market center, located right off US-75 on the west side of the freeway, just below Royal Lane.

The store has received the following upgrades:

expanded beer and wine selection
new product offerings across the center of the store
newly added full-service seafood department
significantly expanded bakery department
remodeled produce, dairy, and meat departments

At about 30,000 square feet, it's one of the smallest stores for the chain, a little more than half the size of a current store.

According to a release, the center and the store opened in 1972 to serve what was then a newly growing residential area. It's the second-longest continuously running Tom Thumb store in its original shopping center (the longest running store is at Preston and Royal).

It's considered valuable because it's in an established, affluent residential area that continues to grow. More than 170,700 people with an average household income of approximately $127,000 live within a three-mile trade area.

It's also getting encroached on by competitors like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, both just a couple highway exits down on US-75. Plus, don't forget H-E-B, entering the DFW market, for now still in the suburbs, but surely it's only a matter of time. Thus the renovation.

Tom Thumb is remodeling other older locations as well, most around the Park Cities, including Snider Plaza, Plaza at Preston Center, and Inwood Road.

According to the release, the renovation of the Meadows store has prompted a makeover to the entire 108,778-square-foot center, home to a mix that includes CVS Pharmacy, Edible Arrangements, The UPS Store, Centrum Health, Gabriela & Sofia's Tex-Mex, Sylvan Learning Center, Preston Royal Animal Clinic, Ephesus Mediterranean Grill, Studio Salon Suites, and other restaurants.

There's a new façade, signage, landscaping, parking, security, accent LED lighting, seating, arbors, green space, and other pedestrian-friendly enhancements.

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Ice Cream News

Kwality Ice Cream shop to bring creamy exotic desserts to Frisco

Kwality

Kwality Ice Cream

An ice cream chain with an Indian flair is dipping into Dallas-Fort Worth: Called Kwality Ice Cream, it's a concept founded in New Jersey that specializes in traditional Indian ice cream and cold drinks, and it's opening a location in Frisco, at 13089 Main St. #500, in a new shopping center.

According to franchisee Raju Vikey, the shop will open sometime in 2025. It joins two DFW locations already open: Irving at 8600 N. Macarthur Blvd., and Euless, at 1060 N. Main St. at Harwood Crossing shopping center, which opened in April.

Kwality Ice Cream was founded by food scientist Dr. Kanti Parekh and his son Anand, in New Jersey in 2003. It has expanded with 38 locations in 14 states including Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas, where there are three locations in Houston and one in Austin.

“The idea was to create a South Asian-specific ice cream, which is more known for fruits and nuts,” Anand says. “As a Ph.D. in food and nutrition, my father’s background and expertise were in flavor. He used that to create very unique flavors and top notes to give a really good mouth feel and experience.”

They have close to 50 ice cream flavors with classics like cookies & cream, chocolate supreme, and butter pecan; but South Asian and Indian flavors dominate the menu with exotic options like green guava, lychee, and Nuttie Tuttie Fruitee, a berry-flavored ice cream with nuts and candied fruit.

There is also kulfi, a frozen dessert that's like ice cream but with less added air so it has a stiffer, creamier texture. It's served in slices and comes in popular Indian flavors like pistachio, mango, and rose.

Other novel frozen treats include cassata, an ice cream cake with three flavors of ice cream layered over sponge cake.

As with many Asian desserts, they're often less sweet than American-style confections. Wild inventions include the mawa rabdi cup, with ice cream, rice noodles, basil seeds, and rose syrup, topped with nuts and candied fruit; and Thandai ice cream, a staple at Indian festivals, consisting of almonds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, watermelon seeds, rose petals, pepper, cardamom, saffron, milk, and sugar.

Rabdi is like a pudding, believed to have originated during the 1600s. Kwality makes it following the traditional method of slow-cooking milk until it thickens and reduces, enhancing its sweetness and creaminess, then adding ingredients like cardamom, saffron, and pistachios.

Pints of ice cream and frozen desserts range from $8-$11, and cassata ice cream cake slices are $7.

ice cream openings desserts