Popular Temple ice cream parlor opens Belton location

July 24, 2025

By Harvey Jackson Oss

The Belton Journal

The line for ice cream stretched to the door at the grand opening of Nic & Ned’s Scoop Shop in Belton on Saturday afternoon.

The new venue is the second location for the business which first opened last year in Temple. It is situated within the downtown Katy Commons building on East Street.

Nic & Ned’s found success in Temple, with many customers making the trip from neighboring Belton to patronize the business.

“We had a lot of people from Belton,” explained store official Jason Kirk. “There were people were asking if we had any plans on opening up one closer to Belton.”

While hesitant at first, the store decided to make the leap to a Belton branch on the recommendation of their landlord and local businessman Terry Potts.

Potts, who owns the building of Nic & Ned’s Temple location as well as Katy Commons, offered a vacant spot within the Katy which previously housed a candy store to the ice cream shop. After multiple months of renovations, the new storefront was ready to open.

“It’s lovely when you see people that you know, that have been supporting us, and now they have their own little hometown ice cream shop,” said Potts.

Contrary to popular belief, Nic and Ned are not the names of the shop’s proprietors.

Kirk noted, “It’s one of the most common questions that we get, are you Nic or are you Ned?”

In reality, the shop takes its name from two Great Depression era oxen that belonged to owner Adam Pauley’s grandfather. The name was chosen because of its relation to dairy, as well as its alliteration.

Nic & Ned’s Temple location consists of a patio and drive-thru. In contrast, the Belton location is indoors and has a nostalgic ice cream parlor feel.

“This is more of a traditional ice cream shop where you can see all the flavors,” said Pauley.

Nic & Ned’s Scoop Shop serves its customers super-premium ice cream, a grading defined by low air content and high butterfat. At 30 percent overrun (a 3:1 cream to air ratio), the shop exceeds the typical quality of 1:1 cream to air found in grocery stores.

“It’s a super dense creamy product,” stated Pauley. The shop also offers a rotating variety of non-dairy oat-based ice creams, as well as no sugar added options.

Kirk described his favorite flavor that the shop carries, Yippie Skippy. “It’s a peanut butter ice cream with a caramel ripple; it’s got brownie chunks and chocolate covered pretzels.” Pauley on the other hand prefers the simpler Zanzibar Chocolate, a deep dark chocolate flavor.

Going forward, the shop hopes to partner with Foster Love, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in foster care, on events such as their annual Christmas in July celebration.