Rookie’s Owners Prepare to greet customers at their new location downtown

As the Sept. 7 grand opening for the new Rookie’s Rivermont location approaches, owner Jordan Nickerson and his team are putting together the final steps to open their third permanent location for the Rookie’s franchise.

The new Rookie’s is at 174 Norfolk Ave. in a house that was previously used as a commercial building. The space allows them to have a full menu for patrons in the front while offices are hidden in the back.

Rookie’s initially opened in spring 2017 with the goal to provide delicious ice cream sandwiches coupled with a fun atmosphere for people to enjoy time with friends and family.

Over the past four years, the young business has grown their menu to offer more options than ever before. Their ice cream is homemade, and new flavors are always coming out. The cookies are also baked fresh daily at each location. To keep the menu fresh with endless options, they do a seasonal rotation of new ice cream and cookie flavors each month.

The turnaround was quick for this new store, as only a few structural changes were made to the house. The modifications included adding new service windows, re-painting all the walls and installing new doors to separate the front end of the shop from the back-office spaces.

Despite it being a commercial house, Nickerson and his team had a vision of what the building could become. This new Rivermont location may have a different look than the Forest or Roanoke locations, but, according to Nickerson, this style fits with the company’s goal of making each location one of a kind. 

“It just felt, like, homey,” Nickerson said. “If we’ve got this vision for it, then we can produce it. And so, years ago, it’s like I can see our truck on the ground a lot. I can see our brand in that building. I can see Rookie’s in that space in Roanoke.”

Nickerson is excited to see what advancements this new location can bring for the business, and he believes it will reach a new group of people—especially the residents of downtown Lynchburg and Boonsboro. 

For Nickerson, the anxious feeling right before the opening of a new location can be sometimes louder than his excitement.

“I am the one that brings us here, then two weeks out I get fearful no one is gonna show up,” Nickerson said.

The belief is strong that this new location will bring a lot of success to the Rookie’s brand, but they do not want to veer away their customers from making the drive to the Route 221 Forest location as their first choice.

The leadership of Rookie’s is certainly enthusiastic to now be able to serve new areas in the community, but they are also excited to have this new office space to pave the way for Rookie’s future growth. The offices will allow some of their full-time employees to work in the same space and oversee the business more efficiently than ever before. 

“We’re very thankful to have a space and office to be able to collaborate out of,” Nickerson said. “This building, [the Rivermont location], is a big reason why we have that now. We’re excited to kind of be in a new area in Rivermont.”

While the Rivermont location currently only provides outdoor seating, they have plans to make indoor seating available down the road.

According to Nickerson, further expansions for Rookie’s are on the horizon, with a goal of cohesively opening a fourth and fifth location in Charlottesville and Blacksburg, Virginia. Rookie’s is also interested in entering the wholesale market through grocery stores within the next year.

Kevin Gora is the Assistant News Editor. Find him on Twitter at @kevgora.