Smitten Ice Cream in Mission SF to reopen following vandalism
The owner of a San Francisco ice cream shop says she has a lot to be grateful for after her store was vandalized nearly a month ago. She plans to reopen her business this week after receiving overwhelming support from the community. The owner is Jewish and the vandalism included messages saying Free Palestine.
SAN FRANCISCO – The owner of a San Francisco ice cream shop plans to reopen her doors after her store was vandalized nearly a month ago.
Monday afternoon, Robyn Sue Fisher and her team prepared for the grand reopening of their store, Smitten Ice Cream, in the Mission District.
Fisher said she is grateful for the overwhelming support she has received from the community and has a message of love in this divisive time: Smitten is another word for love, and ice cream is a way to bring people together in these difficult times.
So she introduced a new flavor to reflect that.
Fisher named the new flavor “I Choose Love,” made with a blend of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
She said she was starting again after the vandalism.
It’s an “intentional way to bring our product to life in the way we’ve chosen to respond,” Fisher said as she prepared the ice cream. .
It was a show of resilience after working here for six years.
On October 25, around 2:45 a.m., she said two masked men were seen using baseball bats to break the front windows.
She said they spray-painted “Free Palestinian,” which was misspelled, and “Out the Mission.”
Fisher, who is Jewish, said she did not know why her store was targeted.
“Whatever reason this happened, it was to create fear and sow discord,” she said.
A friend started a GoFundMe that raised more than $100,000 to help pay for repairs and salaries for her 16 employees.
Neighbors said they can’t wait for Smitten to reopen.
“I heard about the vandalism a few weeks ago. I was pretty devastated. I’ve been coming here for years,” said neighbor Anna Marie, who declined to give her last name.
“It’s great that they’re resilient and bringing us back so we can all benefit,” said neighbor Jeremy Mikush.
Fisher released an open letter of thanks to the community to express his gratitude for their support.
She said she wanted to fight hatred with love, with the help of ice.
“Ice cream is a magical, disarming food. It has this unifying force. It’s hard to be mean to people when you’re eating an ice cream cone,” Fisher said.
In addition to the ice cream, Fisher will also sell merchandise and proceeds from clothing sales will benefit the Courage Museum at the Presidio.
Amber Lee is a reporter at KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave a message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU, Instagram @AmberKTVU or Twitter @AmberKTVU.
