Amy Simmons was a pre-med student at Tufts University in Boston when she took a job at Steve’s Ice Cream. That job changed her plans. In 1984, she and partner Scott Shaw opened Amy’s Ice Creams in Austin, leasing a storefront on Guadalupe Street with a check.
Growing at her own pace
Amy’s is based in Austin and privately owned. The company now has more than a dozen shops, most of them in Austin, with locations in Houston and San Antonio as well. The first Houston shop was in the Rice Hotel. In 2009, Simmons said she did not plan to expand quickly, and the company has grown deliberately.
An Austin favorite
Austin Chronicle readers voted Amy’s the best ice cream in the paper’s reader poll for eight years in a row, and the paper called it a “quintessentially Austin institution.”
Know before you go
- The first shop is on Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas campus. Check Amy’s website for the location nearest you and current hours.
Amy’s is a good reminder that a local business does not have to stay tiny to stay local.
Featured photo: Amy’s Ice Creams in Austin by Paul Joseph, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
