New Swampscott hot dog, ice cream eatery opens

SWAMPSCOTT – Now serving ice cream and hot dogs on Humphrey Street, the new Kell’s Kreme located at the former PoPo’s Hot Dogs had a soft opening on Saturday.Local attorney Harry Pass owns Kell’s Kreme stores on Revere Beach, at Square One Mall in Saugus and had one inside Finagle-A-Bagel in Vinnin Square, which closed last year. Pass said the unannounced opening went much better than expected.”We haven’t even got a sign up yet,” he said. “But we had people coming in and had more business than we anticipated. PoPo’s closed almost a year ago and I think people have been waiting for us to open.”The store is currently open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Pass said once the weather warms up it would expand its hours.The store serves strawberry shortcake, sundaes and 16 flavors of Edie’s hard ice cream. The menu also includes a myriad of soft serve ice cream flavors and Flavor Burst, which adds swirls of concentrated flavor to soft serve ice cream. In addition to ice cream products, the shop also serves up hot dogs.Pass, who purchased the business and property from Mark Scaglione, said the décor in the new store is similar to the store in Square One Mall, which has been well received by customers. The shop is primarily yellow, green and white. It also retained some of the nautical theme and antique postcards from its predecessor PoPo’s, which closed last year.Scaglione opened PoPo’s in December 2003 and the small hot dog joint with its quirky offerings quickly became so popular it was featured on a 2004 Phantom Gourmet television salute to the best eight hot dog emporiums in New England. PoPo’s closed last year but Pass said Scaglione would be employed as manager of the hot dog side of the business.Pass said the shop has two cash registers up front in order to increase efficiency and decrease wait time.”I know I’ve seen people waiting in lines that never seem to move at some of our competitors,” he said. “We want to get people in and out. We don’t want our customers waiting.”Pass said the shop has an open air feel yet offer customers a little privacy at the same time.”We’ve put in a couple of booths,” he said. “I think people will like the look and feel of the place and we have a walk up window.”