Gray’s Ice Cream, the beloved Tiverton Four Corners destination, has long maintained a window down at Thames Street Landing. But after the Fischer family of Bristol purchased the brand, they decided they needed a bigger presence here in their hometown.

After their new space at the corner of Hope & State (where Dunkin’ — or Duffy’s — used to be) got a refreshing makeover over the course of many weeks, ice cream lovers were finally treated to a grand opening over Memorial Day weekend.

Ashley Fischer, currently of Barrington, is the face of the business, but not without the help of her parents, brother, and husband. “It's always been a family business,” she said. “We’re excited to be the next stewards of the brand.”

A 2005 graduate of The Lincoln School, Fischer attended Vanderbilt University where she studied communications and Italian studies before getting her J.D. from Wake Forest University.

“I was working in the corporate legal world and decided that I'd be interested in doing something different, and my family and I kind of got together on what we wanted to do as a family,” she said. “We are very supportive of one another and we wanted to find something that we could build and have be our legacy, something that future generations could buy into as well. We just started exploring options and Gray’s came together for us.”

Fischer said that while they have no plans to shake up the iconic brand, they do plan to introduce some exciting new flavors.

“Gray’s has such a legacy as an institution in Rhode Island and we really want to pay homage to that,” Fischer said. “So, we are definitely keeping a lot of the traditional aspects of the company. People love Grays ice cream.”

We hear stories every day about how people grew up going to the beach and would stop at the Tiverton location. That was just their their little tradition and we want to continue to be part of those traditions, but we also want to give some new excitement to the brand as well.”

While they are focusing on their ice cream sales with their summer launch, they plan to add coffee, pastries, and other sweet treats as the season goes on. They have several tables available for indoor seating and they plan to stay open year-round, and anticipate providing offerings that will keep people coming in, even in the coldest winter months.

“We just want to really make sure that we're hitting the ground running here with the ice cream.,” said Fischer. “That's our core product, that's what we're known for.”

The Bristol shop will not have quite as much variety as Tiverton, simply because they don’t have as much space. They will have the majority of their flavors, and rotate the rest in. Like the Tiverton shop, they will also sell hand-packed pints.

Summer hours are noon to 9 p.m. weekdays and Sundays, and they will stay open until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“We’re just thrilled to be part of this community,” said Fischer. “Bristol is such a special place for us as a family and I know it's been a special place for Gray’s. We’re just excited to bring it more into the center of town and have more people know that we're here.”