Eddie’s Sweet Shop brings sweet delight to Forest Hills almost 100 years later
By Yasmeen Persaud
The ice-cold, retro and neon bright light scene from the 2019 Hollywood film Isn’t it romantic, isn’t from a traditional Hollywood set — it’s from a traditional ice cream shop.
Eddie’s Sweet Shop, located in the quiet and vintage neighborhood of Forest Hills in Queens, has been around for almost 100 years.
The sweet treat location cycled through three owners, Owner Vito Citrano the fourth one. His father purchased the place in 1968, after only having experience at a pizzeria.
“This place was available for sale and he bought it, and the other owner showed him the way, showed him how to make all the ice cream, syrups and toppings, and we perfected it from there,” Citrano said happily.
The family-owned location has earned its reputation as being a popular place for an after school snack, or early morning treat. Customers are welcomed to a shop that keeps up with the past by incorporating designs from the 1920’s and 30’s.
With endless options for ice cream flavors and toppings, the sweet shop caters to all customers. Originally, the shop included 6 flavors and has now expanded to 18, with even more room to grow.
“What we do for certain customers, is what we do for all our customers it’s whatever they want if we ever change a flavor which is very very rare, they all get upset at me so we always bring it back and never try to change things,” Citrano stated.
The amount of Hollywood films shot at Eddie’s stands at around 30, not including commercials. While this number is impressive, what stands as even more substantial is the sweet shop’s dedication to keeping things humble and vintage.
One of the first electric refrigerators houses homemade ingredients while the stools responsible for comfortable conversation are 100 years old. The shop captures an era that can only be described through textbooks.
“All the fixtures are pretty much the same,” Citrano said while discussing the shop’s originality.
Citrano describes seeing multiple generations entering the shop, showing a major change over the years. With customers shifting, the source of ingredients shifted as well.
“It was easy to source great quality ingredients back then because it was mom and pop shops back then, but not like that anymore, they’re big companies,” Citrano said.
While Citrano does describe that change in quality of ingredients over the years, the desire to keep the shop and purpose the same has acted as inspiration and momentum.
“I grew up here. To me it’s just like normal, to other people they’re surprised, and especially older-aged people, they love it because they remember how it was when they were a child,” he stated.