Beloved Fort Worth Frozen Pops Shop is Closing for Good After One Last Summer — Alchemy Pops Gets Ready to Say Goodbye

Beloved Fort Worth brand Alchemy Pops, which makes frozen pops in small batches using fresh ingredients, is preparing to say goodbye for good. Alchemy Pops will reopen to customers only briefly this summer before shuttering, according its owner and chief alchemist Carolyn Phillips.

“While I’m devastated and disappointed that it’s our final summer, I am in the unique position to literally sugar coat it! I started Alchemy Pops to spread sunshine and smiles, and that it is exactly what I’m going to do while celebrating this last chapter,” Phillips says.

Fans and Alchemy fanatics can get their last taste beginning on Saturday, June 6. The shop will be open during weekend hours only in June and July, which will serve as the pop shop’s final months of operation. Phillips plans for her annual “Weekend of Watermelon” celebration on Saturday, August 1 to be the swan song event for Alchemy Pops.

The departure of one of Fort Worth’s coolest handmade pops is another closure that can be linked to prolonged coronavirus shut downs. Phillips says that while she has accepted that the pandemic cost her the pops shop, the impending closing does not change what it has meant to her.

“Alchemy Pops’ existence relies on large social gatherings ― they are the bread and butter of the business. Social events, public celebrations and corporate catering helped Alchemy Pops grow from a kitchen idea to a Fort Worth storefront,” Phillips says.

Phillips always focused on the freshest ingredients and sourced them locally as much as possible. “Alchemy Pops’ mission is creating frozen treats that make you feel as great as they taste,” she says. She created crowd favorites such as vanilla cinnamon, grapefruit hibiscus, and of course, the popular watermelon.

In 2015, Phillips bought a used pop cart on Craigslist and merged her passion for food and entrepreneurship to launch Alchemy Pops ― growing a business that ultimately led to opening her own pop shop storefront at 411 S. Main Street South Main Street in 2018.

In the years that followed, Phillips gain recognition in the North Texas culinary community and was awarded for her entrepreneurship, including being named a 2019 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow and Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year finalist. She has also served on the Chef Committee of the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival.

Philips launched My Pantry Kitchen in recent weeks. It is a digital publication featuring recipe collections that raises money for community causes. (To purchase the most recent issue supporting the Tarrant Area Food Bank, visit My Pantry Kitchen.)

“I can’t imagine a more supportive community to have started and grown my business,” Phillips says. “I say it all the time, running Alchemy Pops has been a dream job because of the privilege that other people believed in the dream with me. But the word ‘alchemy’ means magical process of transformation, and that is what this time means: a chance to transform for the next opportunity.”

To celebrate Alchemy Pops’ final summer, the pops shop will be open to the public for weekend hours only ― Saturdays and Sundays from 12 pm to 7 pm. Pre-paid delivery, curbside order pickup and pop cart catering can be scheduled any day of the week, based on availability by ordering on the Alchemy Pops’ site.