Nothing says summer more than enjoying a chilly popsicle outside with friends and family. To cool off at a uniquely inviting spot, community members can now make a stop at Jim Watkins’s new Steel City Pops location.

“It’s a nostalgia,” Watkins says about the treat’s appeal. “It makes you feel like you’re a kid again if you’re not.”

Across the street from the Lee Branch shopping center in the Vapor Thrift Shop parking lot at 5443 U.S. 280, the new site incorporates Steel City Pops’ industrial style with an Airstream trailer. “The Airstream is so awesome,” Watkins says. “I’ve always wanted to do something with one, and it turned out really cool.”

A lit pergola covers picnic tables and surrounding planters, creating a relaxing Southern environment. Visitors can either park and walk up to the trailer or use the drive-through to buy the $3 popsicles, which includes tax. “People can come and have good conversation while enjoying something delicious,” he says. “It’s just the simplicity of it.”

Watkins opened the new location on May 19, the company’s two-year anniversary, making it the fourth Steel City Pops in Birmingham. The new location gives a portion of its sales to Vapor Thrift Shop, which supports sports camps for impoverished countries. The company’s other spots donate the sales from their water bottles to build water and production wells in India and Africa.

 

Read more about the new Steel City Pops in the August issue of Shelby Living. Find your copy here.