The time has come...

After seven wonderful years, we've made the bittersweet decision to close Once Upon a Slush. Our last day will be August 30th.

Dave and I started this store back in 2019. It was a dream we'd carried for years: a little shop of our own, right in the heart of downtown Petaluma, part of the everyday rhythm of this town we love.

And it has been everything we hoped for, and more. We've gotten to watch so many of our young employees have their very first job at 16 — then learn to drive, go to prom, graduate, come home from college to work a summer shift, or stick around to learn a trade. There is nothing quite as grounding as sweeping off the stoop first thing in the morning, getting ready to open the doors. This has always been a place where people came to celebrate — a big win, a prom-posal, a birthday, even a wedding party that showed up still in their dresses and suits for a round of slush after saying "I do." We got to be part of all of it, and we don't take that lightly.

We won't pretend the last several years have been easy. Like every small business still standing downtown, we've weathered a lot of pivots. Costs have climbed everywhere — the price of goods, since we opened our hourly wages have increased over 40% and our rent has climbed over 200%— it all adds up in ways that are hard to outrun. We're not special in that; it's just the truth of running a small shop right now.

For those of you who know us, Dave and I have always had a bit of the risk-taker in us. We once produced the Wine Country Spoken Word Festival two years running — and both years, wildfires tore through our county. Bad luck, not bad judgment. Once Upon a Slush has felt a little like that too: six months after we opened our doors, the world shut down for COVID. We did everything we could to keep showing up for this town with something cheerful and cold and a little bit sweet. We like to think we did.

We want to thank our daughters for being there with us and helping us get this off the ground. Alexis helped every step of the way — she held our GM spot for many years, and we are so grateful for all the time we got with her here. Miranda followed as GM after Alexis, and created and has maintained our website and helped design so many of our gift cards, flyers, and artwork over the years. It takes a lot of patience to work with — and for — your parents, and we know it and will always hold that we were able to do this with them close to our heart. And to the many, many friends and family who have supported us from the very start and all the way through these seven years — it would be impossible to name you all, but know – thank you.

So please — come see us before August 30th, or until we run out of slush and soft serve, whichever comes first. We'd love one more visit with you.And this isn't really goodbye. You'll still find us around Petaluma, including at West Side Stories Petaluma, every second Wednesday at the Polly Klaas Community Theater. Don't be a stranger.

Thank you for seven years of celebrations, first jobs, first dates, and everyday sweetness. It's been the honor of our lives.

With so much love, Juliet & Dave

For those of you who don't know the person behind the screen, for the last seven years I've had the privilege of working for my parents, sometimes even from across the country. Some people may remember the green-haired girl who gave them their ice cream one time, but since the store opened, I have been managing our social media (until I had to move to Philadelphia) and our website. This store will always hold a special place for me, my family, and our slush slingers who became part of our family.

I met some of my closest friends working there, got to be a part of the community, recognized faces, remembered names; I even knew which customers were coming in for what flavors because this was always much more than an ice cream store or even a family business. This was a labor of love from all of the workers who loved my family. From the outsider's perspective, this place was special because of how unique our product was and how well my parents took care of their customers. From a worker's perspective, this place was special because we loved those we worked with. We showed up to each other's sports games, graduation parties, and important events. We would show up with someone's favorite energy drink because we cared about each other. We had inside jokes and would laugh until our sides hurt, and we'd offer a hug when someone was sad.

That was never something I took lightly. It was special to be a part of something special, and we all knew that, which is why everyone always came back to work when we could. Our family always got a little bigger thanks to them.

What's special about this location is that it's lived a lot of lives. Throughout our years being open, people would come in and say that they used to come there when it was the bakery or they got their ear pierced there 10 years ago. So in a lot of ways, we were always passing through and making our mark in the long history that's 122b American Alley.

I've loved every second of this crazy journey with my family, and it's sad to see it go, but at the same time, it's nice to know that this little store will hold a special place in people's hearts forever.

To my parents: thank you for giving me opportunities to shine in all different capacities and the ability to bring my personality with me to work unapologetically. I was able to be silly and fun; I did ridiculous interviews with employees, lay in the alley to snap a photo of products, and got to put a smile on people's faces constantly. I had the time of my life working for you guys, and it is always an honor to get to tell people I'm Dave and Juliet's daughter.

Thank you to everyone who came in the last 7 years; the time I got with my parents and sister is a gift I can never repay.

With gratitude,

Miranda Pokorny