HistoricOmaha

Omaha World Herald
Published Saturday May 6, 2006

BY MAHALIA ASANAENYI

After gaining ownership of Ted & Wally’s Ice Cream Shop in 2001, Joe Pittack and co-owner and sister Jeanne Ohira pursued a flavor that is their own.

No uniforms. No elevator music. No employees in costumes at the corner. Good service.

Pittack prides himself in setting a tone of brazen independence in the 20-year-old ice cream shop.

“If I don’t want to do it, I won’t make my employees do it,” said Pittack, dressed in an indie rock band T-shirt, stonewashed jeans and worn sneakers. “We try to make it as relaxed as possible.”

Now the brother and sister team want to take that relaxed style from their Old Market parlor to a second location in the heart of Dundee.

The store will be at 50th Street and Underwood Avenue in the former home of Carl S. Baum Druggists. The new Ted & Wally’s will open in early June.

“Everybody seems to feel good about this choice,” said B.J. Reed, president of the Dundee-Memorial Park Neighborhood Association.

Reed said the ice cream store’s strengths are that it is family-oriented, locally owned and contributes to the desired retail mix.

Many hope that Ted & Wally’s will be a new anchor for a district that has been recovering from the loss of several businesses, including Dundee Hardware.

“I think it’s a perfect fit for the corner,” said Councilman Jim Suttle who represents the Dundee area. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about Ted & Wally’s moving in.”

The Dundee Ted & Wally’s will offer more than 300 flavors of ice cream from green tea to cherry chocolate chip to pistachio almond.

Although it will draw from the design of the 1960s vintage ice cream shop in the Old Market, the new store will have a different look and feel, Pittack said. The Dundee store is smaller than the Old Market store at 1600 square feet. It is longer and narrower than the current location.

It will be on the first floor of the historic Harte Block building. The building has two office bays on the first floor, and apartment units on the second floor. There also will be additional outdoor seating along 50th Street.

“Think classic soda fountain in 2006,” said Pittack about the design.

Omaha.com: Dundee’s Ted & Wally’s will serve a very relaxed flavor