Chattanooga's trendy North Shore soon will get a shop that sells nothing but gourmet popsicles.
A Frios Gourmet Pops will open in October inside Signal Mill at 205 Manufacturers Road.
Signal Mill is a retail and office development taking shape in what formerly was the Knitting Mill antiques mall. It's next to the Northshore Two shopping center anchored by Whole Foods.
Frios, which began with a pushcart in Gadsden, Ala., features 72 flavors of ice pops.
They come in two categories: Low-fat and fat-free "fruity pops," such as cranberry orange, muscadine and classic mojito. Frios also sells "creamy pops" made with milk and cream, including the flavors s'mores and pumpkin spice latte.
The gourmet ice pops cost $3.50, each, which includes sales tax.
Some flavors are available year-round and others vary by season.
The ice pops are made in Gadsden, where Frios says it uses the "freshest ingredients we can get our hands on" from "local farmers and mom-and-pop suppliers."
The Chattanooga store will be the second for franchisee, Matt Robinson, who launched his first Frios a year ago at 202 Broad St., in Rome, Ga.
"Once I started coming up here, I kind of fell in love with Chattanooga," said Robinson, who grew up in Cedartown, Ga., and played college football as a defensive end for Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
After opening his store in Rome, Robinson started to visit Chattanooga where he scouted locations on foot.
"I like to put stores where I like to hang out," said Robinson, who likes the mix of stores in and around Signal Mill, where he's leased a 1,100-square-foot space.
Robinson likes Chattanooga so much that he moved into an apartment here three weeks ago.
He'll work behind the counter in the Chattanooga store, and he plans to research area farms for ingredients to put in the ice pops.
"As we get up and get going, that'll be something I'll focus on," he said.
Other eateries are slated to open in Signal Mill.
Mean Mug Coffeehouse, which is in business at 114 W. Main St., plans to open its second location at Signal Mill in October. Also next month, Edley's Bar-B-Que, a "meat-and-three" Nashville-based restaurant, should open.
Signal Mill was purchased in July of last year for $3.55 million by The Woodbery Group, which plans to spend $8 million upgrading the 60,000-square-foot, brick, two-and-a-half-story structure. There's room for at least three to five more retail businesses downstairs in Signal Mill, said owner and developer David Woodbery. Negotiations are underway for office tenants upstairs, Woodbery said.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsFor Business or on Twitter @meetfor business or 423-757-6651.