A new Graduate Hospital ice cream shop is all about big flavors and little wins

Winners Ice Cream has only been open three weeks, but its wall is already completely covered with notes from neighbors. The small shop was packed on a recent, hot Thursday evening, as customers of all ages lined up for scoops of nostalgic flavors with winning-themed names like “MVPeanut Butter Crunch,” “Champ Chocolate,” and “Sweet Success ‘Smores.” They were invited to leave Post-It notes on the wall that detailed their own personal wins.

These notes ranged from “I’m getting married” to “Published my first book” to “I ate breakfast.”

This is owner Anh Nguyen‘s first shop. The 31-year-old, originally from Newark, Del., moved to Philly to manage branches of Surreal Creamery for the four years prior to his opening Winners.

Winners is so named because “we celebrate small wins, big wins, and all the wins in between with fantastic ice cream,” said Nguyen.

Nguyen built a production kitchen downstairs, where all his ice creams are made from a 14% buttermilk base. Although he is the sole proprietor, his family has been actively involved with helping him get Winners off the ground. His father helped with construction and his mother kept the crew fed while they spent hours at the shop “putting things together with hammer and nails. And since we’re Vietnamese, she always packed us jasmine rice with eggs, pork, or sautéed chicken.”

It took Nguyen and his father about a month and a half to build out the space. His three sisters have weighed in heavily, testing flavors and helping source ingredients. Nguyen currently makes 14 flavors of ice cream, with more in development, including “Match Point Matcha” (“All the flavors are winning themed,” he said) since the green tea flavor is so popular.

His current personal favorite? “Major Mint Chip, which I make by infusing fresh mint leaves into the ice cream base, and letting it steep overnight. I didn’t want to use extracts or food colorings in any of my ice creams.”

The flavor has crushed Girl Scout cookies (Thin Mints, of course) because Nguyen’s niece is a Girl Scout. To support her during cookie sales, he bought cases upon cases of cookies.

Winners, as well as Mod Spuds, which opened a week and a half prior to the ice cream shop, contributes greatly to “little treat culture” in the neighborhood. And they also share a similar aesthetic, because they share the same muralist. Nguyen peeked into Ange Branca’s Mod Spuds, a few feet away and also on South Street, noticed their painted walls, and asked to be connected with the artist, Hana Alshahab, who ended up painting the wall at Winners.

Winners is a dream come true for Nguyen, who has loved hard-scoop ice cream since he was a child. “You can add mix-ins to hard scoop and make flavors that are more out of the box, unlike with soft serve where the mix-ins won’t fit through the tube of soft serve machines.”

Most importantly, “I want Winners to be a community space to recognize and celebrate the moments in life that are often overlooked. Small wins can add up to big wins. I look at the wall and I get inspired and emotional,” said Nguyen.

In the sea of slips of paper denoting other peoples’ wins, one yellow one could easily be missed. It reads, “I opened an ice cream shop!”

“That one was mine,” said Nguyen.

Winners Ice Cream is at 1610 South St. It’s open from noon to 10 p.m. daily. Single scoops served in cups start at $5.75.