Gone are the “for lease” signs that lined the center of town. In their place are cafes teeming with life on sunny mornings, restaurants and taprooms that swell with customers in the evenings, and every variety of small business for visitors to stop into — jewelers, boutiques, and a cheese shop among them.

New Englanders love ice cream. We’re home to Ben & Jerry’s, Springfield, MA is the birthplace of Friendly’s, it’s simple facts that our region tends to float to the top of most polls measuring ice cream consumption per capita. And Bostonians know that we have some of the best ice cream shops in the country, maybe the whole world.

Whether it’s hot and humid or peak blizzard, Bostonians always make room for ice cream. Score a scoop from any of these local creameries and you’ll understand why. This cool treat offers countless spins on local flavor, from the New England dairy that's often the base to mix-ins made on Cambridge's Confectioner's Row. Next time you want to chill with a cup or cone, check out the best ice cream in Boston.

New City gets super nerdy about its ice cream — liquid nitrogen is involved in the dessert-making process — to great effect. Come here for dollops of pillowy, airy creams in classic shades like mint chip, coffee, vanilla, and chocolate. Aside from the Central Square shop, New City’s pints are also stocked in Whole Foods and other local grocers around the area.

If you live in Massachusetts, no matter your neighborhood, a top-notch homemade ice cream shop is likely just a short drive away. In fact, Bay Staters may have won summer's sweet tooth jackpot.

We all know that song, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” There’s no dessert quite as exciting as this sweet frozen treat, is there? It’s the stuff of childhood dreams and, yet, it’s still a fun treat to have as an adult. Some of our awesome readers recommended a few ice cream places to us. So, without further adieu, here are the three most-recommended ice cream shops in Massachusetts, according to our readers.

When the owners of New City Microcreamery opened their scoop shop in Hudson in 2015, the idea was simply to complement the popular restaurant they owned across the street, Rail Trail Flatbread Co.

Many moons ago, I sang the praises of a restaurant and ice cream shop in Hudson, MA, that offered everything from amazing pizzas to an authentic speakeasy (complete with a secret password!) to incredible ice cream…and MORE!

Jack McPartlen, a local real estate professional and consultant based in Holden, MA, recently stopped by and interviewed our manager, Lexi Soto! In the video, she tells the story of her six years working for New City Microcreamery and our journey from a small ice cream shop to having three locations (Hudson, Sudbury, and Cambridge) and being carried in grocery stores, including every Whole Foods in the North Atlantic Region. They also discuss the importance of community and giving back!

About six months of anticipation about New City Microcreamery opening a Sudbury location (first reported by Sudbury Patch in August), the day is finally here. The Hudson-based handcrafted ice cream purveyor will open its shop at the Meadow Walk plaza along Route 20 on Saturday.

After announcing a collaboration with Whole Foods, New City Microcreamery will open its third location at the Meadow Walk shopping plaza in Sudbury. The new location will represent Sudbury’s only ice cream shop and feature exclusive flavors only available at the new spot.

Hudson’s popular ice cream shop New City Microcreamery is now available at three Massachusetts Whole Food Market stores.

Popular Hudson-based ice cream shop New City Microcreamery, which expanded to Cambridge in 2018 and started selling pints at some local specialty grocery shops in 2020, has just upped its game with pint distribution to Whole Foods locations in Sudbury, Shrewsbury, and Westford. Seven flavors are available, including cake batter, key lime pie, salted cookies and cream, vanilla bourbon, and more; they’re $9.99 for a pint.