Photo by Erin Nelson.
Phallon Cunningham, 8, dances as she eats ice cream at Neighbors Ice Cream in Homewood while David Walker, center, looks on and Cunningham’s father, Dexter, pays for their order May 6.
Neighbors Ice Cream is back.
The short-lived but beloved ice cream parlor on Oak Grove Road has been given a second chance under the new ownership of Homewood residents David and Anne Walker. The new entrepreneurs bought the business earlier this spring, and, in just a few short weeks after reopening, Neighbors is already creating a buzz around West Homewood and beyond.
“On April 2, I turned the ‘Open’ light on just to see what happens,” said David Walker, “and word-of-mouth has been non-stop ever since.”
Neighbors Ice Cream originally opened in 2021 as a cooperative under the ownership of 17 residents, all chipping in funds to get the business off the ground and operational. The business turned into a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen situation before Neighbors closed in January 2023, the Walkers said.
In the 18 months the business was open, the Walkers said Neighbors had already established itself as a keystone in a community that has been experiencing a renaissance over the last 10-15 years. The Walkers, who have lived in West Homewood for close to a decade, said the closing of Neighbors earlier this year felt like a punch to the gut, especially in the wake of Ash Neighborhood Bar & Grill closing in mid-2022.
It was out of a sense of responsibility to the community that the Walkers decided to take the plunge, practically on a whim, and buy the business.
“We looked at each other and I said ‘Is it ridiculous that we should try to buy it?’” David said. “We deliberated for all of February and at the beginning of March, we bought it.”
After opening quietly in early April, the Walkers held a grand opening for Neighbors on April 15 and have been delighted with the community's early response.
“There was an outpouring of sadness when the first iteration of Neighbors closed and there was equal jubilation when we opened back up,” David said.
Neighbors Ice Cream is the maiden voyage for the new entrepreneurs. The Walkers already had busy lives before buying the business. The couple have three small children — Noah, Lily and Emilia — and challenging careers. Anne is an occupational therapist at Behavioral One in Vestavia Hills, while David, a former high school history teacher, has helped run Walker Express Delivery since 2014, a business his father launched in 2001.
Luckily for the Walkers, and the West Homewood community, Neighbors Ice Cream was a turnkey operation with very little maintenance needed to reopen. David said they added the proper equipment to offer milkshakes, added some new artwork to the walls, installed a self-serve candy wall, and rehired April Page, a friendly face who ran the counter for the original owners.
With most of the pieces in place from the outset, the Walkers realized they were faced with a great opportunity to be part of the synergy happening in West Homewood, even if the decision seems a little rash in retrospect.
“A friend asked me recently, ‘Did you ever think you would own an ice cream shop?’ and I said, ‘Not even in January,’” Anne said. “If it wasn’t turnkey and if we didn’t have the desire to keep it in the neighborhood, I doubt we would have been able to do this.”
West Homewood is currently experiencing a tremendous amount of change as new businesses eye the community for growth. In June, Cantina Tortilla Grill is set to reopen in the space once occupied by the Homewood Diner and Florida Grille and others, while popular downtown Birmingham restaurants El Barrio and Paramount will anchor a new development on Oxmoor Road where the soon-to-be demolished Econo Lodge stands now.
David said West Homewood is poised to see an “explosion of walkable food options” over the next 18 months. The Walkers said that these welcome changes, as well as Neighbors’ proximity to West Homewood Park and Hall-Kent Elementary, put their little ice cream shop in a perfect spot to be an integral part of the community for years to come.
“It’s been really fun to be involved in the community,” Anne said. “I think that’s what led us to this decision, to keep it in the community and be a place where everybody gathers. It’s right by the park and the after-school rush is the busiest part of the day, so being a part of the community in this way has been fun.”
Neighbors Ice Cream is located at 715 Oak Grove Road and is open varying hours during the week and weekend. Learn more at neighborshwd.com.
