When Chris Skillin was hired at age 16 by The Ice Creamsmith’s original owners, David and Robyn Mabel, he likely didn’t dream that the part-time job would lead to a life full of love, a full-blown career, and, now, a Legacy Business Award from the City of Boston.

Between issuing scoops of the shop’s ten signature flavors of fresh home-made ice cream and blending in mixins and sauces, Chris found the time to fall in love with his co-worker, Sarah, the proprietors’ daughter. Today, more 25 years later, Chris and Sarah, married with two kids, own the iconic Lower Mills ice cream parlor.

On Tuesday, alongside Dave and Robyn who opened the store in 1976, they accepted the Legacy Award from Mayor Wu and Dorchester Reporter co-publisher Linda Dorcena Forry at a celebratory event in the city’s South End.

Above, Sarah Mabel-Skillin and Chris Skillin received the Legacy Business Award from Mayor Wu during a ceremony in Boston's South End on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Photo by Mike Mejia/Mayor's Office

Since taking ownership in 2014, Chris and Sarah have worked to keep The Ice Creamsmith the neighborhood hot spot that David and Robyn made it. In the first few years of “retirement,” the elder Mabels continued to play an essential role in the store’s success.

“They were our babysitters, slash employees, slash whatever we needed. When we took the store over, Sarah was pregnant with our second child, and we had just bought a house in Milton,” said Chris. “They were huge in whatever we needed. You needed workers here, they were here scooping ice cream. You needed diapers changed,
they were changing diapers. It was just whenever we called up, they were like, ‘We got it!’”

Tuesday’s award ceremony featured 30 businesses from 17 different Boston neighborhoods, including two other Dorchester enterprises: Greenhills Irish Bakery on Adams Street and Ba Le on Dorchester Avenue. The winners are recognized as long-standing, independent enterprises that make a strong contribution to their communities’ character. That’s what the Ice Creamsmith has managed to do for Dorchester and Lower Mills since it opened.

Above, Chris Skillin, Sarah Mabel-Skillin, Robyn Mabel and Dave Mabel behind the counter at The Ice Creamsmith in Lower Mills on Monday, June 2, 2025. Seth Daniel photo

“I feel like it was long overdue,” said Sarah. “I’m happy that my parents are still around to see it because they were the ones who started this business back when there was nothing to the neighborhood, and they took that risk and put in the time and effort to build the business up.”

She added: “Chris and I just kind of waltzed into a well-oiled machine; they were the ones who really did all the legwork to get it to that place. It’s a nice recognition for them, and I think it’s nice for them to see that something they built has continued on and continues to be successful.”

For his part, Chris, whose go-to order is chocolate chip ice cream with Reese’s, said the shop has been successful because of its top-notch ice cream products, which are made daily in the shop’s basement.

“We make it all in-house,” he said, “and it doesn’t travel anywhere. When you start to travel with ice cream, it starts to change the consistency and the flavor. We use rich, 14 percent milkfat, and that gives it that creamy texture. It goes from our maker to a deep freeze, which is two feet next to it, and then it comes upstairs.”

The demand is so high that most of the time, customers are eating ice cream that was made just hours before they order. As cups and cones of signature and special flavors like June’s Dorchester Dirt, Black Cherry, and Dulce de Leche are ordered seven days a week from noon to nine, the buckets of freshly made ice cream are changed around frequently. But much of the shop’s success comes from keeping things the same.

“If we switch too much up, there’s going to be some backlash for sure,” Chris said. “We strive to be the old-time ice cream shop that you are used to. It’s like stepping back in time when you step in the door.”

And while the business has become multi-generational, so has its base of loyal customers. “We’ve been here for 50 years, we’re getting second and third generations of people coming in and they’re like, ‘I remember when my parents or my grandparents brought me in,’” said Chris.

“Behind the scenes, yes, we’re upgraded to new computer system or whatever that helps us along,” he noted, “but the quality of the ice cream and the comics on the wall and the feeling that you get when you walk in the door is still the same as it was back in ’76. Newer lights, fresher paint, all that stuff, but you still walk in that door, and it brings you back to your childhood.”

The Ice Creamsmith is located at 2295 Dorchester Ave. in Dorchester, Lower Mills.

Two generations of The Ice Creamsmith: (l-r) Chris Skillin, Sarah Mabel-Skillin, Robyn Mabel, and Dave Mabel. Seth Daniel photo