Friday, May 24, 2013

Brigham's Restaurants Disappearing, Being Renamed with New Ice Cream Suppliers

A local restaurant and ice cream chain that has been in existence for a very long time will soon be no more, though its frozen treats will still be available.

According to an article in the Arlington Advocate, all remaining locations of Brigham's will be losing their brand name and they are now in the process of finding new suppliers of ice cream, with the changes apparently occurring between now and June. The article mentions that HP Hood of Lynnfield (which purchased Brigham's several years ago) has decided to stop selling its ice cream in bulk quantities, which is the reason that the restaurant locations will shutter. The Brigham's products will still be sold in convenience stores and supermarkets, according to the Advocate.

The article says that the Brigham's location in Quincy will become The Ice Cream Parlour and is planning to sell products from the Sugar Maple Creamery, while the Hingham location will become Patti's Place and is looking to sell Gifford's ice cream. The Arlington location does not yet have a new name, though the owners are hoping to sell Richie's Slush there, while the North Andover location is now called Fari's Diner (thanks to one of our readers for this last bit of information).

[July 17 update: The Boston Globe states that the end is near for the Brigham's shops, as only two remain open (Hingham has officially been replaced by Patti's Place) and they will switch over to new shops once their supplies of Brigham's ice cream run out (final deliveries to the shops are planned for later this month). As mentioned earlier, the Quincy location will be called The Ice Cream Parlour, while the Arlington location, which will sell Sugar Maple Creamery products, still does not have a name.]

Brigham's first started out in 1914 with a shop in the Post Office Square section of Boston. After decades of expansion throughout the area, the chain filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and ended up closing all but a handful of locations.