Photography by Scott Norsworthy
The challenge here was to lure customers to a retail space that sells an invisible product. Traditionally, a lineup of ice-cream dipping cabinets holding cylindrical tubs of the variously coloured frozen treats makes a sufficiently appealing visual display to draw patrons. This was not, however, an option at Scooped, which bills its product as “ultra-rich, super creamy [and] the best ice cream in Toronto.” It is also photosensitive. To ensure quality, the firm handmakes small batches of ice cream, then stores it in unlit freezers. So, at the new boutique in Mississauga’s Square One shopping mall, the design, not the ice cream, does the purchase-persuasion heavy lifting. The prevailing micro-cement coral wash wall finish bathes the space in a warm glow reflecting off partial-height fluted-glass panels cladding the back wall and point of sale. The floor pattern, of muted red-orange porcelain tiles with staggered white linear inserts, directs attention to the service counter, where the inserts align with metal panels, incised with a random pattern of holes, that gradually descend the service-counter front.
As appeared in the July/August 2025 Best of Canada Awards issue of Canadian Interiors magazine.
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