The two most popular places in the Quad Cities to get ice cream are Country Style Ice cream and Whitey’s Ice Cream. These two branches of cold treats were started by two brothers in the 1930’s that shared a love of ice cream. Whitey’s Ice Cream was started in 1933 in Moline IL by Chester Lindgren, but his nickname was “Whitey” which came from his iconic white-blonde hair. His younger brother, Wayne Lindgren, helped out with the start of Whitey’s until 1947.
After seeing the popularity of ice cream in downtown Moline, Wayne decided to get his hands in the ice cream business himself, but with a twist. Wayne decided to go the soft-serve route, differing from his brother’s popular hard serve flavors. Wayne and Chester took so much pride in their ice cream botheren that Wayne opened his first ever store-front directly next to his brother’s shop.
Both businesses have become very successful and popular amongst Quad-Citians. Whitey’s has expanded to eight storefronts while Country Style is a few steps behind at five total locations.
However, this once tight family bond has now turned into a rivalry between the two ice cream shops. It is a constant battle between Whitey’s and Country Style fighting for the most popular QC sweet treat. Whitey’s won the most recent ‘Local’s Love Us’ Award for both “Desserts” and “Sweets & Treats”. Country Style bit back at Whitey’s by taking the #1 spot for best Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt in the QC Times Best in the Quad Cities, leaving Whitey’s behind in the #2 spot.
There have even been recent battles between the stores and their employees. A former worker of Whitey’s that is now employed at Country Style gives the inside scoop. After working at Whitey’s for about six months, Dominic Wates left his position because, “the downside was it was always busy and making the orders took way too long.” Another former employee of Whitey’s, Zachary Smith, had a similar experience. ”It got to the winter season where my hours got cut and I really couldn’t afford to lose hours,” saidSmith, a senior at West.
While it is unfortunate that some West High students didn’t stay at their sweet job, many still enjoy eating there. Whitey’s is known for their hard serve scoop menu that consists of 40 different choices and an array of flavors. They have a much smaller menu of shakes. You have some basic choices, like strawberry and chocolate, but you can add in some candy and other flavor options. These shakes are made with the hard serve ice cream and a shake base to make it easier to blend.
On the other hand, Country Style is a shake based shop. You are given the choice of soft serve vanilla, chocolate, or twist and have a menu of about 50 options of add-ins. These include fruits, candies, and syrups. Country Style also has hard serves, but not nearly as many as Whitey’s. Country Style holds anywhere from 8-20 flavors at a time and are rotated out frequently. This means that if you get one flavor one week, it most likely won’t be back in the rotation until up to months later.
If you are trying to decide where to go for a sweet treat after dinner, and want to try something unique and different, then Country Style is your place! If you are more into liking the same flavors and not switching it up too much, then stop into Whitey’s Ice Cream.
