First Look: Sugarwitch in south St. Louis

Sugarwitch opened its new brick-and-mortar location in the former Carondelet Bakery space at 7726 Virginia Ave. in the Carondelet neighborhood of South City over the weekend. The storefront offers a new beverage program and treats from local purveyors like Whisk and Bijoux Chocolates alongside Sugarwitch’s familiar lineup of ice cream sandwiches, dipped cones and other novelties.

“The biggest new thing for us is the coffee program,” explained co-owner Sophie Mendelson. Cafe manager Camy Bright took the lead in developing the new offerings, working with local roaster Coffeestamp on a custom blend. The blend, Witches Brew, is available hot as drip or cafe au lait and cold as regular or nitro cold brew. Customers looking for an extra flavor boost can opt to add housemade frozen cereal milk cubes to their cold brew, which is topped with more cereal milk and a flourish of cereal dust. 

The new beverage menu also features hot and cold teas from Big Heart Tea Co. Tea lattes are available in flavors like chai and London Fog, and there is a rotating selection of brewed loose-leaf teas and cold-brewed hibiscus tea.

Naturally, Sugarwitch also uses their new coffees and teas in a variety of ice cream floats. Options include cold brew, matcha and soda floats; all are topped with housemade vanilla-infused whipped cream made with Rolling Lawns Farm heavy cream. 

“We have our full ice cream menu still, but we get to be a little more fluid with it,” Mendelson noted. “And then we have these beautiful cases that we can’t fill with ice cream,” she said, gesturing to the large, glass-front bakery cases that harken back to the building’s previous life as the Carondelet Bakery. These are stocked with pastries from Whisk, chocolates from Bijoux, bagels from The Sourdough Kid and chocolate chip cookies from Breadcraft. 

Since relocating from Columbia to St. Louis last year, Sugarwitch has operated out of an Airstream trailer parked outside of Olio in Botanical Heights. While they’re operating only out of their new storefront location for now, “we would love to return [to the Airstream] next summer if that’s available and we have the capacity for it,” Mendelson said. 

There is no indoor seating at Sugarwitch, but outdoor seating for about 30 is available in a small side yard. Sugarwitch is open 3 to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.