Sweets by Mrs. C
Karen Mansfield
Heidi Hoffman sits inside Sweets by Mrs. C in Monongahela.
Karen Mansfield
The counter at Sweets by Mrs. C in Monongahela
Karen Mansfield
The seating area of Sweets by Mrs. C in Monongahela
Karen Mansfield
Patrons can enjoy their treats in this cozy Christmas themed area at Sweets by Mrs. C in Monongahela.
Sweets by Mrs. C is a Christmas-themed ice cream shop in Monongahela where it’s merry all year long.
For owner Heidi Hoffman, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t enough time to celebrate the holiday season.
So, in August, Hoffman opened the ice cream shop, which serves soft-serve ice cream and “twisted” sodas, along with baked goods and old-time candy.
“I love Christmas and I love meeting people. And I thought, how can I combine the two?” said Hoffman, who worked throughout high school in the Isaly’s ice cream store in Monessen that her parents owned and had long wanted to own an ice cream shop. “I want people to walk in and feel like they’re in Mrs. Claus’s kitchen. It would be full of baked goods and ice cream and it would be real kitschy and comfortable.””
As soon as customers walk in, they are charmed by the cheery atmosphere (Christmas music plays year-round), friendly staff, and menu with cleverly named ice cream cones, sundaes and milkshakes like “Rudolph’s Revenge,” “mistletoe mint,” “nose like a black cherry,” and “St. Nick Strawberry.”
The shop also has introduced the Mon Valley to twisted sodas, a fun twist on ordinary soda that turns the customer into a mixologist.
Popular out West, twisted sodas are pops, like Pepsi, combined with a variety of syrups – pomegranate and lime, for example – to create a specialty drink.
Or, order from Mrs. C’s menu: example, a Cindy Lou Dew is a Mountain Dew infused with mango and strawberry, and a Blue Christmas is a lemon-lime soda with vanilla and blue raspberry.
To warm you up on chilly days, Sweets by Mrs. C features La Prima coffee and gourmet hot chocolate loaded with whipped cream and toppings – you want Andes mints and rainbow sprinkles on top, you’ve got it.
A variety of delicious cookies, brownies, pies, and chocolates by the aptly named Snowy’s Chocolates of Elizabeth are available daily.
Running a local business is nothing new for Hoffman, who previously owned The Memory Tree, a scrapbooking store in Charleroi, for years, until she sold it to her mother, Dorothy Jackson, who turned it into Yarn Branch, a Monongahela yarn store.
Her mother owned Heidi’s Button Shop in Charleroi, which was named after Hoffman.
So, when Hoffman, who worked in the nonprofit field and in commercial real estate, was considering names for the ice cream shop, she decided to return the favor.
Every year, Hoffman’s mother dresses as Mrs. Claus for Monongahela’s Light Up Night and distributes duster caps to children at Monongahela Library.
“I thought, wait a minute, instead of calling it Dorothy’s, I could call it Mrs. C’s,” said Hoffman. “It was a light bulb moment.”
Sweets by Mrs. C is delightfully decorated with Christmas trees (adorned with ornaments available for purchase), Santas, elves, and a sleigh, providing customers with a hearty dose of holiday cheer, year-round.
The centerpiece of the store is the vintage counter, for which Hoffman’s husband, Roy, and son, Collin, drove to a remote town in Virginia and hauled back.
The immensely optimistic, warm and likable Hoffman and her employees have made customer satisfaction a priority.
“The employees are great, and to me, that is the key to our business. Everyone treats the customers with a lot of respect and kindness,” said Hoffman, a mother of three. “I’m a big believer that people want to be treated nicely. I will go above and beyond to make sure people are happy and satisfied.”
Hoffman, a Charleroi native – and former Charleroi High School mascot – said “Monongahela has my heart.”
She wants Sweets by Mrs. C to “be a place for people to come after the musicals, after the choir concerts, after the parents’ daughter gets jilted by the boyfriend. I want this to be the place where people come and hang out and laugh.”
To do that, she’s come up with fun promotions. After the Ringgold Rams won their first football game of the season on a 27-yard field goal, Hoffman offered a free milkshake to the kicker (he took her up on it) and offered 27 percent off all milkshakes the following day. In addition, in order to get the discount, customers had to say, “Go Rams!”
As Christmas nears, Hoffman is planning holiday events, including a Breakfast with Mrs. C, with proceeds benefiting CASA for Kids.
Hoffman is excited about growing the fledgling ice cream shop.
“I want to get to the point where Sweets by Mrs. C is a true destination place. I love this store. I love everything about it, and I love the people who come in here,” said Hoffman. “Honestly, one of the best days I’ve ever had is right after I first opened. It was a Tuesday night, it was almost time to close, and I walked in and every single table was filled and people were laughing and there was joy. It was so cool This is exactly what I wanted.”