A business frozen in time

When the huckleberry harvest begins later this month, Jerry Gill will spend hour after hour making local favorites.

There are milkshakes and sundaes, single-scoop dishes and double-header ice cream cones.

Inland Northwest residents clamor for summer treats squeezed from the small purple berry that horticulturists have failed to tame. And perhaps no one coaxes the yumminess from a huckleberry as well as Doyle’s Ice Cream Parlor, a West Central fixture since 1939.

Located at 2229 W. Boone, the corner store is a step back in time. Along with Gill, the store is decidedly vintage.

Gill displays part of his impressive toy collection on the walls. Chilling behind the counter are more than a dozen flavors of ice cream.

During a brief break between customers on a sweltering afternoon, Gill talked about growing up in neighborhood and filling up on Doyle’s offerings every day.

And he reflected on the circuitous way he came to own the business.

He lives next door to Doyle’s and thought it might be an interesting business to buy.

When the previous owner closed the shop in 1988, West Central summers just weren’t the same, Gill said.

“I tried to get the owner to do something with it, but it didn’t work out,” Gill said.

When the owner died, the store passed to a relative who wanted to sell it.

Gill said he hit up every bank in town for a loan, to no avail. The catch was this: The store has a residence behind it. Banks wouldn’t give Gill a business loan because of the residential property, and they wouldn’t give him a mortgage loan on the house because of the commercial property.

“The only way to do it was through a high-interest conventional loan, and even then they wanted 15 percent down. I couldn’t do it,” Gill said.

So several summers passed without a Doyle’s dishing ice cream. Gill spent the time working for Rosauers Supermarkets.

Then in about 1991, Gill was working in his front yard when a stranger approached him and said he had just taken over the note on Doyle’s with plans to turn the property into a rental.

“He asked if I knew anybody who wanted lease this place, and I said, ‘Yeah, I do,’” Gill said.

Knowing nothing about making ice cream, Gill reopened Doyle’s and things have been back to normal ever since.

The business has not been a big moneymaker. Ice-cream eaters can be a seasonal bunch, and staying open all winter doesn’t make sense. So Gill spends the off-season selling antiques and collectibles on eBay.

When the weather heats up, though, Doyle’s gets busy. Gill said the downfall of owning such a time-intensive business is, well, the time.

Gill sighs when he talks about his 1965 Ford Mustang. It was his first car, bought in the mid-1970s when he was 16 years old. It’s now a project car that needs work, but he says that’s not likely to happen soon.

Gill has plans to retool an old trailer so he can take his ice cream offering on the road to events like Hoopfest, Pig Out In the Park and the Spokane Interstate Fair.

Overall, Gill has few regrets. The neighbors look out for the store and support his business. And he likes making the kids happy — one big bubblegum or cotton candy ice cream cone at a time.

“There are times I wish I had a steady 9-to-5 job,” he said, “but you know, then who would run Doyle’s?”