Ice cream cakes chill inside a refridgerated unit inside Nea’s Ice Cream Wednesday morning in Centralia.
Marin Marlantes talks about keeping up with the business during a pandemic at Nea’s Ice Cream Wednesday morning in Centralia.
Signs are displayed inside Nea’s Ice Cream Wednesday morning in Centralia.
Shane Marlantes talks about flavors offered at Nea’s Ice Cream Wednesday morning in Centralia.
Decorations fill the walls inside Nea’s Ice Cream Wednesday morning in Centralia.
Shane and Marin Marlantes smile as they pose for a photo outside Nea’s Ice Cream Wednesday morning in Centralia.
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Sourcing ingredients from the Pacific Northwest is a top priority for Shane and Marin Marlantes, who own Nea’s Ice Cream in the Fairway Center in Centralia.
The duo purchased the shop in 2014 when it was a part of the Baskin-Robbins franchise. When the business was closing, they jumped at the opportunity to go independent, opening in July 2019 — calling the shop “Nea’s,” a play on the popular Neapolitan ice cream flavor.
There’s no shortage of options at Nea’s with over 40 ice cream flavors — sold by the scoop, pint, half-gallon and gallon — along with milkshakes, smoothies, ice cream cakes, sundaes, coffee and other sweet treats available every day of the week.
Nea’s was open for less than a year before they had to close for a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The ice cream shop has a drive-through window, but Marin said that there just weren’t enough people out and about for it to make much of a difference.
“We just kind of bumped along, I mean, it’s been a rough year,” Marin said.
The new business missed out on a chunk of their most popular seasons — spring and summer — and said they are still working to get business back up to pre-pandemic levels.
“This is a very weather-sensitive business. We are people that eat ice cream year-round before we had an ice cream shop,” Marin said. “We have also known that as a business, we have cycles that we go through, but this has been really hard to predict. It’s harder to staff the store.”
Nea’s employs a lot of local students and has created a fun, family-friendly environment for a young person’s first job.
Nea’s sources their ice cream from a dairy in Oregon, their espresso is made in small batches from coffee that is roasted at Batdorf & Bronson in Olympia and their cakes come from the Bread Peddler, a bakery in Olympia.
The couple loves to get feedback from customers and collaborate to create new flavors. For example, a regular customer said he has never been able to find cinnamon ice cream, so Marin and Shane had one made. The most popular flavors are the classics — chocolate, cookie dough, cookies and cream and birthday cake. They also have sherbets and sorbets.
“We have pretty loyal customers that are excited and say, ‘we are so glad you guys are here.’ Of course, every business wants a lot of people coming, but we have a core group of people that are very loyal, and it’s really nice,” Shane said.
The Marlantes learned how to make espresso since going independent and use it in their espresso shakes — made with just vanilla ice cream and espresso. Marin said they focus on using simple, high-quality ingredients in all of their products.
“We couldn’t do that as a franchise so it was nice to bring in those kinds of things, which I think are kind of hard to find,” Marin said.
The Marlantes said that if they have room, they are always open to adding in new local products. They enjoy the freedom and ability to be more nimble with their products and business than was allowed when they were operating as part of a franchise.
“We want people who come to our store and leave feeling a little bit better — a friendly smile or a little chit-chat — that is my ultimate goal,” Marin said. “Customer service is a lost art anymore … Just something pleasant during the day makes us all feel a bit better.”
More Information on Nea’s Ice Cream
Owners: Shane and Marin Marlantes
Website: neasicecream.com
Phone: 360-736-0310
Hours: Winter: Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Summer hours: Sunday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
