Mars welcomes new ice cream shop with open arms
Residents of Mars are already quite familiar with the name “Purvis Brothers,” the 95-year-old family-owned fuel distribution company which also owns the small Planet Mart chain of gas stations and convenience stores.
Starting June 24, the Purvis family legacy was further extended with the opening of the Cosmic Treats & Sweets ice cream shop, adjacent to the Planet Mart convenience store on Pittsburgh Street in Mars.
Mac Purvis Jr., the current owner of Purvis Brothers, said he founded Cosmic Treats & Sweets because he saw a need in Mars for an ice cream shop.
“Our (Planet Mart) convenience stores have always been very oriented toward homemade food, so we thought there was an opportunity to bring a high-end ice cream product to the area,” Purvis said. “There wasn’t anything in Mars at all for ice cream, let alone homemade ice cream, so we thought there was an opportunity there.”
The location was previously home to Mars Pizza, which has since moved to a new location at Grand Avenue.
As of July, Cosmic Treats & Sweets serves a wide selection of hard and soft ice cream, with a rotating selection of 16 hard flavors and four soft-serve flavors. According to Purvis, the ice cream is made with all local ingredients, including Marburger’s milk.
“We use a very rich ice cream base that we get from Marburger Dairy, and we blend in all-natural flavors and colors,” Purvis said. “We have a special machine that takes the ice cream base and the flavors … and blends it all together and freezes it down so that it’s thick.”
So far, according to Purvis, the most popular product at the shop is the Supernova — a blended ice cream treat similar to Dairy Queen’s Blizzard.
“It’s chocolate or vanilla soft serve ice cream blended with all kinds of different additives … Reese’s Pieces, toffee pieces, chocolate chips, any of those kind of things,” Purvis said.
According to Purvis, business is steady after one month, with much of its traffic coming during evening hours.
“From a standing start, I think we’re doing OK,” Purvis said. “We're seeing quite a bit of traffic from word-of-mouth. I think it's building, and I think people are understanding that we’re here.”
The good news for Mars area residents is that they won’t miss an opportunity to check out what Cosmic Treats & Sweets has to offer once this summer passes. The business plans to stay open year-round.
