Ice Cream Shop Closes Montclair Space, Keeps Caldwell Store Open

MONTCLAIR, NJ — “We have had more staff out in December than the last two years combined.” This message from Guerriero Gelato, which is closing its Montclair location indefinitely, encapsulates the struggles of many Montclair businesses and employers – not to mention their staff.

The award-winning community ice cream shop, which had two locations in Montclair and Caldwell, gave its customers some sad news via social media on Monday:

“If you see us in the shop we won’t be open, it will be to continue to pack out meals and groceries to donate, this work must continue! Today has been emotional, but the past month has been really stressful. We have had more staff out in December than the last two years combined. We are still open in Caldwell, and back to normal hours, but we be closed in Montclair. After we wipe our tears and regroup tomorrow we will try our best to get open safely as soon as this weekend, if not ASAP! Your support means the world.”

Guerriero Gelato still operates a store at 194 Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, and is accepting online orders for that location.

Guerriero Gelato offered some more details about their decision in their social media post:

“It is with great sadness we announce that we are closing our doors in Montclair indefinitely. December was pure chaos, pulling the plug on Christmas with record orders for the holiday really hurt. The second one person tests negative, two more are back in quarantine. Luckily there has been no exposure or spread in our shop, and we are masked up, but we cannot control what's going on outside our building. For now we are combining staff and opening Caldwell back to full hours instead of trying to run two shops halfway. You can pick up there (plenty of parking) and delivery to Montclair and surrounding towns still works on our site! We survived two years of COVID, power outages, flooding, IDA, and we kept getting up. We finally have been knocked down. It has been an emotional day talking to our team about it and making the decision.”

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