Is this the end of Thrifty ice cream as we know it?

It was like a scene from a movie about an asteroid hurtling through the universe on a collision course with Earth. Many of the shelves at the Rite Aid in El Segundo were bare. Row after row empty. The air was thick with an eerie silence as I made my way to the ice cream counter near the registers.

A half-empty, three-gallon tub of strawberry ice cream sat next to another of butter pecan. There were a few dregs of blueberry yogurt cheesecake and maybe a scoop and a half of raspberry cheesecake left in the cartons. The four flavors were clustered together in the middle of the case, like the lone survivors of a panic-fueled ice cream rush on the store. Ice crystals clouded the inside of the glass, collecting in the corners like a long-abandoned artifact left at the Earth’s end.

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I noticed a label for the Chocolate Malted Krunch flavor, but no tub behind it.

“We’re out,” the woman behind the counter said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Whatever you see is what we have. We’re not restocking anything. We’re closing in June.”

It’s the same story at dozens of Rite Aid drugstores across the country. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced a slew of store closures, including more than 20 locations in California.

For a Southern California native who grew up visiting the Thrifty ice cream counters at Rite Aid stores all over Los Angeles, the news was a blow to the heart.

A photo of the Thrifty ice cream counter from the shuttered Rite Aid store in Glassell Park.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

While some might see Rite Aid (which acquired Thrifty Drug Stores in 1996) as a place to pick up a prescription or purchase cold medicine, for me, the drugstore has only ever meant ice cream. The scoop counter inside the Rite Aid in the Hastings Ranch neighborhood of Pasadena was where the Harris family purchased all of our ice cream. Sure, there was a Baskin-Robbins in the shopping center across the street, but I only ever had eyes for Thrifty.

Brothers Harry and Robert Borun and their brother-in-law Norman Levin opened the first Thrifty drugstore in downtown Los Angeles in 1929. They sold ice cream from various suppliers, but as demand for the product grew, the brothers decided to start producing the ice cream themselves. They opened the first Thrifty ice cream production plant in Hollywood in 1940. The plant relocated to a 55,000-square-foot facility in El Monte in 1976.

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At the time, a scoop of Thrifty ice cream cost around a nickel.

What do the store closures mean for the future of Thrifty ice cream? It’s a question Evan Lovett, host of the podcast In A Minute, recently posed in one of his social videos. Known for his fun and informative slices of L.A. history, you can view Lovett’s video online. It sent me down a rabbit hole to find the answer. I reached out to Thrifty, who directed me to the Rite Aid corporation, who stonewalled me like they were protecting government secrets.

An employee at the Thrifty ice cream factory in El Monte oversees production in September 2019.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

What I could deduce is that Thrifty ice cream, like all of Rite Aid’s assets, will likely be sold. It nearly happened in 2018, when Albertsons Cos. was set to acquire Rite Aid, and with it, Thrifty ice cream and the El Monte plant. But the deal never happened.

There’s also the possibility of finding the ice cream at a local restaurant. Ball Park Pizza in San Clemente has been serving Thrifty ice cream since it opened in 2014.

And now that Thrifty sells its signature cylindrical ice cream scooper (around $30), you could buy a pint at one of the dozens of retailers who carry the ice cream in the freezer aisle, and scoop your own ice cream at home. But will it taste the same?

A cake cone with a scoop of Thrifty Chocolate Malted Krunch ice cream from a Rite Aid store in Los Angeles.

(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

I have always believed that the Thrifty ice cream cone served from the ice cream counter tastes better than the stuff you can buy in the freezer aisle. I can’t say that I’ve come to this conclusion by tasting every one of Thrifty’s ice cream flavors, but it does apply to the best flavor, Chocolate Malted Krunch.

The first thing to consider is atmosphere. It is a scientific fact that your ice cream cone will taste at least 38% better if it’s eaten while perusing the As Seen on TV aisle of your local Rite Aid. Five different devices that trim or remove hair from anywhere; a pot that’s nonstick and scratch-resistant or your money back; copper-infused socks that energize your feet. Endless fun while you lick and slurp your way to the bottom of your cone.

I decided to stage a taste test to challenge my own theory. After visiting two Rite Aid locations, I was able to find a store that carried the Chocolate Malted Krunch flavor in both the scoop shop and the freezer section. I purchased a scoop at the counter, then bought a box of Joy cake cones near the register and a 48-ounce carton of the same ice cream and headed to the parking lot. I used my Thrifty cylindrical scoop (of course I have one) to get the perfect scoop of ice cream and made my own cone. Then I proceeded to eat both in quick succession for an accurate comparison.

The pre-packaged stuff was airier, like ice cream foam that melted slower on the tongue. The malt balls felt sluggish, their crunch muted by the time spent in the freezer. The flecks of dark chocolate less abundant.

The cone from the scoop counter tasted both richer and creamier with a thicker consistency. There were crunchier malt balls in each bite. Even outside in the parking lot, beyond the comforts of the As Seen on TV aisle, it was noticeably better.

It could be due to the ice cream containers themselves, the size affecting the amount and distribution of mix-ins. A longer time in the freezer could also affect the taste and texture. The Rite Aid counters scoop from 3-gallon cartons, while in the freezer aisle, consumers can choose from pints or 48-ounce containers. Signs attached to the freezer doors at both the Rite Aid locations I visited advertised the availability of the larger 3-gallon cartons with advance notice and a price tag of $39.99.

With no word from Rite Aid, consumers will have to wait, and hope for the existence of Thrifty ice cream scoop counters elsewhere in the future. Until then, you can find me in the As Seen on TV aisle of a remaining Rite Aid, with a scoop of Chocolate Malted Krunch in one hand and a Pillow Pad in the other.