SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

Local News

July 11, 2008

New owners see hot opportunity in cold cones

IPSWICH — Former Selectman and businessman Harry Lampropoulos and Pomodori restaurant owner Peter Nikolakopoulos have teamed up to purchase the High Street Dairy Queen.

"It's one of those things I always wanted to own," Lampropoulos said. Lampropoulos and Nikolakopoulos become only the third owners of the town landmark.

"Harry and Peter have a lot of experience and a commitment to the town," said Jean Rooney, DQ's business consultant for the Northeast. "That's what Dairy Queen is all about — Americana at its best."

Nearly all the Dairy Queen stores in the country are locally owned, Rooney said.

Nikolakopoulos said he bought into the store because it offers "a bit of a challenge after 20 years in the pizza business."

The new owners plan to remodel and modernize the store after it closes in late October. Lampropoulos said rumors around town that he will open a clam shack in the building or that Nikolakopoulos is moving Pomodori to the site are just that — rumors.

"It's an institution in town, and we intend to keep it that way," Lampropoulos said.

"Our only goal is to make it a better Dairy Queen," Nikolakopoulos said.

The store employs about 12 people, almost all of them high school or college students.

There are about 100 Dairy Queens in coastal New England, Rooney said.

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