The Italian ice and custard shop will take over a vacant storefront between the travel service store and Pandora. The franchisees are Jeffrey Besselman and David Goldes – who are co-owners of an existing Rita’s store in Elmsford. They plan to celebrate their Yorktown grand opening in May. They will hire eight to 10 "Treat Team" members locally, Duke said. The Rita's Italian Ice menu is available online.
In other business news, Sophia's Pizza, 368 Downing Drive, expanded into a neighboring storefront with a soft opening Friday. The space was left vacant after the longtime Cards & Gifts store closed in 2012.
"It was a lovely setting and they turned the place into a lovely martini bar," said Yorktown Town Board member Terrence Murphy, who attended the opening.
The addition is called Sophia's Restaurant Wine & Martini Bar. Hours posted on the store window indicate it will stay open until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and until 9 p.m. Sunday.
A few feet away in an adjacent storefront, a permit has been posted that indicates work has been approved to to transform the store into a nail salon. The space was previously occupied by KFC.
Along with the openings and expansions, Yorktown also lost a store last month. Paging Concepts, the Verizon Wireless store in the Triangle Center, has closed.
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