In the last few years, La Mesa has gotten new coffee shops, an artisanal cheese shop, and even an outpost of the number one restaurant of 2020 (according to Yelp). Now, the quaint East County hamlet is getting even more delicious with its very own Stella Jean’s and Pop Pie Co., which will open side-by-side this summer.
Located at 8247 La Mesa Blvd. (Pop Pie Co.) and 8243 La Mesa Blvd. (Stella Jean’s), the two spaces span approximately 1,300 square feet each, replacing Village Pet Salon and Act II, which moved a few blocks down the street in 2024. Real estate brokerage firm Location Matters handled the deal, which will be Stella Jean’s ninth location and Pop Pie’s seventh.
Founder and CEO Steven Torres says both locations will offer the same ice cream and pie menus as its other locations, as well as a full coffee bar in Pop Pie.
Torres says his team has been looking for locations in La Mesa for several years, and hadn’t been able to find the right spaces for both concepts until now. “We just want to build community out there—be where people want us, and also where we really see opportunity to do what we do.”
And there’s certainly opportunity—right now, you can count the number of dedicated ice cream shops in La Mesa city limits on one hand. (There are quite a few frozen yogurt shops, as well as places that serve ice cream or gelato, but very few legit scoop shops.) And while Torres says Pop Pie’s somewhat niche menu doesn’t quite fit everywhere, their slow and strategic growth strategy over the past 10 years has given them confidence to know where its globally-inspired flavors will work.
“There’s been so many more [locations] that we’ve said no to, just because it has to feel right [and] you have to be wanted,” he says. He’s confident that La Mesa is ready. “We’re super excited about it.”
Stella Jean’s and Pop Pie Co.open in La Mesa this summer at 8247 La Mesa Blvd. and 8243 La Mesa Blvd.
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