I am very grateful they opened in the Baskin Robbins space. The Gofer soft serve is a very high quality, high butterfat product and delicious. Baskin Robbins was a fixture in town, the former owner is/was a very well respected proprietor/person/resident, and Gofer has big shoes to fill.
First, BR never had soft serve like this. I loved the BR in New Canaan. The store was unique and special because of the owner. But the BR product is not what it was at one time. Gofer is an upgrade from BR in the ice cream department.
Second, Gofer is a local business, and that is important and that alone makes it worth supporting. The BR in town was a locally owned business that probably opened before Baskin Robbins sold out to a conglomerate. We are lucky that the former owner didn't just sell back to the company who would have put one of those cheesy hybrid Dunkin/BR/whatever else in that space with management with no local ties.
Third, it's a clean, safe space. I understand about COVID concerns, but I think it's also important to realize how tough it has been to get any workers at all, and when they opened, it was in the middle of the first few days after the months long lockdown. I'm sure if you asked the new owners they'd acknowledge room for improvement, but as a New Canaan resident who enjoys their ice cream, I'm happy I can take my child here and not have to drive to High Ridge Road to their other location.
Any business in New Canaan realizes the very high, sometimes unreasonable, expectations from New Canaan residents, and I am sure Gofer is trying its best to exceed what we demand here.
Negative reviews can be devastating to a small business like this. Ignore the negative reviews -- the good outweighs the bad here BY FAR. Support this local business so that we have a nice place to take our kids for ice cream without having to drive out of town. read more