A Plano couple's first business is in a Dallas neighborhood other businesses have abandoned.
Steve and Cammy's upscale ice cream parlor opened this week at 2839 Cedar Crest Boulevard south of the Trinity River in East Oak Cliff.
While some people look for the wealthiest customers and the biggest profits, Steven and Camille Jones went looking for a place where their new enterprise could help the community, too.
"My wife and I, we talk about, 'What can we do as a couple to create economic stimulus in some of the more dilapidated and impoverished communities — some of the communities that may be struggling financially?'" Steven Jones said.
The couple lives with their children in Plano but the family attends church near Cedar Crest Boulevard where many business locations are vacant.
The couple invested their own money for new paint and floors in their store location. The business sells 16 flavors of ice cream along with family recipe pecan candy and Cammy's special pound cake.
"There's nothing like this in this area, so when people walk in, they forget they're in a poverty stricken area. When they walk in, it's an upscale feel, so that was the idea," Camille Jones said.
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And the business has a special slogan, "Strengthening Communities one scoop at a time."
"We're not just here to take from the community, we're here to give something back. And as we get our footing we want to start some initiatives — maybe through the local school system, churches — to really build up the community," said Camille Jones.
Steven Jones still has a full-time job, but they hope their business will thrive enough that he can give that up and perhaps even expand to other locations.
Just north of Steve and Cammy's, the city of Dallas has made a big investment with improved street lighting and park features beside the Cedar Crest Bridge, replacing very unsightly structures that once stood there.
The business people hope their nice new shop will be a catalyst for other new establishments on Cedar Crest Boulevard.
"Hopefully whoever chooses to put a business there would do something as nice or at the same level we have done our shop. That's the idea," Steven Jones said.
The store has only been open for days, but word is spreading among customers.
Steven Scott and his wife stopped by for dessert after lunch Friday.
"We heard about it from a mutual friend," Scott said. "We came by and we're talking pictures so we can put it on Facebook and let other friends know about the location."
The flag is planted at Steve and Cammy's on Cedar Crest Boulevard in Dallas.
