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The new Charm School Study Hall on Forest Hill Avenue offers soft-serve ice cream exclusively.
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The sign for Charm School Study Hall was completed by Richmond-based Sooner or Later Sign Co.
“Difference between Broad St. and Forest Hill? We can’t see the line [here]; it feels a little more manageable,” Meryl Hillerson says with a laugh.
For the last two weekends the co-owner of Charm School Social Club, with her business partner and fellow ice cream connoisseur Alex Zavaleta, have drawn crowds for the soft openings of their second ice cream shop, dubbed Charm School Study Hall. The friends will officially debut their newest outpost, this one dedicated to soft serve and housed at the ever-growing Hill Standard development along with The Veil Brewing Co., Blanchard’s Coffee and Y Tu Mama, at 4930 Forest Hill Ave. this weekend.
For the initial rollout, Hillerson explains, “We will have four flavors of soft serve from the walk-up window and are starting with Saturday and Sunday and hoping to expand one day a week, every week, until [we get to] four or five days.”
Originally, the walk-up window was intended to be a way for guests to get their late-night ice cream fix, but Hillerson says that when the pandemic struck, it threw those plans for a loop. At one point last year, while uncertainty about reopening businesses was at its highest, the duo backed out and Forest Hill was off the table.
“A month or two after, we realized the space we wish we had on Broad [Street] was the Forest Hill location, in terms of size and corner space and the window, and we signed back on,” says Hillerson, a California native.
So why soft serve?
“Short answer? You can eat a lot more,” says Hillerson with a laugh, admitting she has a serious sweet tooth. “The acceptable portion size of soft serve is much bigger.”
In addition to four soft-serve flavors at a time, the Forest Hill Avenue shop will offer two vegan options, made in their own dedicated machine and always available. While flavors will change approximately every month, Hillerson says that in comparison to regular scoops, soft serve provides an optimal foundation for toppings.
With an obvious adoration for ice cream's less dense counterpart, she continues, “Soft serve you can eat a cone the size of your face — lower butter fat content, aerated texture, really good, and because of it toppings stick to it so well.”
Toppings for the nostalgic treats will include a vegan birthday crunch confetti cookie, a rustic homemade strawberry sauce, cinnamon-brown sugar oat streusel crumble, a coffee dust made from Lamplighter coffee grounds, and a vegan maple honeycomb that HIllerson describes as having the consistency of the Australian candy bar Violet Crumble.
With much fewer flavors at the new shop compared to the usual 16-strong lineup of offerings on Broad Street, Hillerson says, “People thought we would come out slinging with avocado soft serve and ube and golden milk, those Charm School flavors, but it's a little more calculated. … We will really deviate more with the toppings. Still have to think of 5-year-olds, and they’ll be really sad if we don’t have vanilla soft serve.”
Hillerson says Charm School plans to reopen its Broad Street location within the next month, and that, while they are currently operating with only the walk-up window on South Side, this is just the beginning.
“Ideally, if summer is successful and [we] can home in on it, the intention is to close Forest Hill for December and January or January and February and build out the front portion of that and reopen next spring [according to] our original business plan,” Hillerson explains, realizing the “full intention of building it out and having it be a full location.”
Charm School Study Hall is currently open Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m. or sellout and Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m. or sellout. Follow Charm School on Instagram for the latest updates on additional hours.
