Murray’s Ice Cream & Cookies ends season Sunday with big sale

For the last 30 years, Murray Nixon has operated Murray’s Ice Cream & Cookies (4120 Pennsylvania, 816-931-5646). For most of the last 29 years, she has closed the store in the fall for a four-month hiatus during the cold months.

“The first year, I only closed the shop for two weeks,” Nixon says. “It’s just gotten longer every year.”

Nixon plans to reopen Murray’s in March, but she’s closing out her ice-cream season Sunday, November 23, with her annual end-of-season clearance sale. She’ll sell all the leftover ice creams in stock. The sale has become so popular that Nixon says she’s usually sold out of everything in 45 minutes.

“We’ll open Sunday at noon and stay open until everything is gone,” she says. “People get kind of picky at the end, but when we’re out, we’re out.”

Nixon opened the ice-cream and cookie shop in the autumn of 1984 with her mother, the late Penny Nixon. Over the years, the tiny shop has earned an almost iconic status for its house-made ice creams. But if you’re going to Sunday’s sale, take cash.

Nixon doesn’t think her longtime cash-only policy (checks are accepted, too) will change next year.

“We’ve talked about adding Square to the shop, but I’m sort of resistant to change,” she says.

During her break, Nixon says she gets the chance to do “normal things” that she can’t do in the busy summer months.

“I go see movies, go to restaurants,” Nixon says. “But mostly, I get to hibernate, sleep, travel to see my brothers.”

Nixon has no plans to retire, even after 30 years of making ice cream and baking cookies.

“I’ll go down with the ship,” she says.

Murray’s Ice Cream and Cookies is open Saturday from noon to 9:30 p.m. and opens Sunday — for the sale only — at noon.