Sweet Peaks Ice Cream, of Whitefish, Mont., plans to open its first Spokane shop in May at 415 W. Main downtown. 

Company owners Marissa and Sam Dauenhauer started the business in 2010 and currently operate six shops. One is at 108 N. Fourth, in Coeur d’Alene, and five others are in Montana—at Whitefish, Bigfork, Kalispell, Missoula, and Bozeman. 

Marissa Dauenhauer says the company is leasing the 900-square-foot space from RenCorp Realty, and has been working with Post Falls-based Basso LLC to remodel it.

She says the space, which formerly was occupied by Cello, a women’s clothing boutique, is mostly in need of additional commercial appliances and furnishings to make it functional as an ice cream shop.

“Most of the work is just adding things like sinks, freezer space, a bar-stool countertop, and other seating,” she says. “We’re also hoping to add some of our own artistic touches to really make it our own.”

Dauenhauer says the Spokane shop likely will hire between 10 and 12 employees, and should be ready to open by the first week of May.

“We’re really excited for this new location,” she says. “We felt there was a need here, and we loved the idea of becoming a part of Spokane’s downtown community.”

Sweet Peaks makes its ice cream in Whitefish and then transports it to the other store locations. All of its milk and cream comes from Montana-based Hutterite colony dairy farms and is processed in Great Falls, Mont.

Dauenhauer says each of the company’s shop locations serve nine classic flavors of ice cream, along with a series of rotating seasonal flavors, some of which feature local ingredients.