Happy Birth Month to us and the Island Pops Family!
We’ve been celebrating our birthday all month!
On July 14th 2019 we officially opened the Island Pops shop on Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn after much hard work and many delays! As we look back on the wild ride this all has been, we see more and more that this journey has always been about our family and heritage. The store opening wasn’t the only birth celebrated that year. Our daughter Ella was born on April 30th, just before we initially intended to open the store in May. But that isn’t the cool part. What you might not know is that I delivered her myself!
Yup, I delivered my own baby
My friends now call me Dr. Hamid, haha. Shells is the true hero of the story though, bringing forth a healthy baby on our brand new mattress at home without any doctor, pain meds or nurses. Ella came quickly. I called 911 when we saw that labor was moving fast. The operator asked if everything was okay, but when I checked on Shells, I said "I don't think it's okay... I can see the head !" I held our son Eli in my left arm and proceeded to help guide Ella out of the womb, with my right arm. It seemed like time stopped, and all there was was this beautiful moment for us to bask in. A pure moment of triumph!
This is a true family effort
Family is everything to this business. We are a family-owned and run operation. Without family there would be no Island Pops. Period. Every single person who works with us is either blood related, or someone we have known long enough that they might as well be. Island Pops is one of our babies; Asia, Eli, Ella and Island Pops, are our children. This is our legacy, and over the past few years we have proudly watched it evolve and grow into something not just meaningful to us, but to the Caribbean community in Brooklyn and the wider diaspora.
The team has grown both back and front end. We now have a store manager and for the first time, Shells and I don't always have to be at the shop right through. This is huge for us! Now we can explore new opportunities and have more quality time together off the clock. It is a healthy transition, and something we proudly regard as a real mark of success.
Celebrating so much growth!
So much has changed since we opened. Not only has the shop gone under some stunning renovations recently, with vibrant outdoor seating, a self service pint freezer, pastry case and dipping cabinet, but we have beefed up our online presence with an awesome branding and social media team. We began selling online this year too, providing ice cream, sorbets and popsicles nationwide, to an overwhelming demand. We have become a traveling accessory to carnival parades across the country. You can find us at premium events, on the road for J’ouvert, and Parade of the bands. To date we have been to Miami, Boston and Atlanta. Even our corporate clientele is expanding, from making snow cones on top of the MTV building for Viacom, to office parties for Brooklyn Nets, Mercedes Benz club, Yahoo and Pinterest! Next for us, we hope to start supplying every grocery store and supermarket in the country. It’s coming! We can feel it.
So Happy Birthday to us, the entire Island Pops family! From our baby Ella whose birth kicked us off with some crazy momentum, to every single person who has believed in us and supported us through the years. We look forward to many, many more awesome adventures together, and we are so excited to see all the amazing blessings the future holds for this legacy.
Yours Truly,
Khalid aka Mr. Pops