Business
BY ANNA MANESS
On the southwest corner of the historic square lies Kilwins, a chocolate, fudge and ice cream shop satisfying sweet tooths in Georgetown since 2021. What they o er Kilwins o ers a number of sweets made in-house, including fudge, wa e cones and caramel corn, said co-owner Amber Kurkowski, who manages the shop alongside Michelle Baran. Leftover caramel from creating caramel apples— one of the store’s most popular items—is made into individually sold caramel chews. Other popular desserts include choco- late-dipped Oreos, housemade marshmallows and brittle. Kilwins has 32 di erent avors of ice cream including seasonal avors such as the All-Ameri- can Two Berry Pie avor, Kurkowski said. “That one’s really popular,” Kurkowski said. “It’s a vanilla ice cream, and it has di erent berries in it, like you would have in a berry summer pie.” Every Kilwins franchise owner can create their own ice cream unique to the town they’re in, Kurkowski said. The San Gabriel Mud avor is a Georgetown special, and includes vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips and rich caramel. Residents and visitors can stop by the shop seven days a week or nd Kilwins participating in local community events like the Georgetown Swirl and Blazin’ Beer Crawl. Who it a ects As a way of giving back to the community, Kilwins donates fudge to charity auctions. Kurkowski said they partner with local teachers and the YMCA to give away free ice cream scoops to top-performing students. Additionally, Kilwins hires special needs team members from Brookwood in Georgetown and a Georgetown High School program. “Team members that are special needs ... make our caramel chews for us, which is really cool,” Kurkowski said. “That’s been our way of helping the community.” What’s special about it? When Kurkowski and Baran found an old photo of what their shop used to look like while at The Williamson Museum, the team hired local muralist Sarah Blankenship to paint the scene of horses and wagons inside the shop. “I thought it would be really neat to have a Kilwins blends historic charm with sweet treats in Georgetown
A small bag of Kilwins caramel corn ($5.99) is made by mixing housemade caramel with popcorn.
PHOTOS BY ANNA MANESS COMMUNITY IMPACT
Muralist Sarah Blankenship created a scene inside the Kilwins store based on an old photograph of the strip the Kilwins building is located on.
Amber Kurkowski is the franchise co-owner of Kilwins in Georgetown, which opened on the square in 2021.
mural that shows the history of the building,” Kurkowski said. “We took our inspiration from the original historic photo.” The Kilwins store is a stop for historic walking tours and The Williamson Museum’s ghost tour. Every Christmas at midnight, a lady in red is said to appear on the re escape stairs outside of Kilwins’ building, Kurkowski said. “There’s a lot of really cool history about this building,” Kurkowski said.
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120 W. Eighth St., Ste. 101, Georgetown www.kilwins.com
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