Does anybody remember Shields’ ice cream parlor?
Actually, there were a number of Shields Ice Cream Shoppes around Wilmington from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. The flagship was in the North 17 Shopping Center at 4306 Market St., Wilmington [Map this] (3934 Market St. prior to a street renumbering around 1970). The owners were Hal and Opalruth Shields of Wrightsville Beach; Carl F. Powell was the original manager at the North 17 location. In 1967, Shields advertised full-course meals, but within a year or two (according to the Wilmington City Directory), the menu was simplified to “Sandwiches, Ice Cream, Desserts, Carry-Out Orders.” (The questioner, an employee at Shields around 1970, remembers the customers who’d crowd in after church services on Sundays; each of them left a quarter tip.) The Market Street location was so popular, Shields soon became a mini-chain. From 1970 through 1974, a Shields was located at 44 Causeway Drive in Wirghtsville Beach. By the mid-1970s, Shields also operated ice cream parlors at 1401 Flora
