WS Chronicle

As we roll into the summer months and the daily temperatures continue to rise, people will look for a way to cool off. Retired U.S. Army veterans Andrea Maine and Michael Kiter are here to the rescue since they opened their new cold treats shop called World of Swirlz (WOS) “Italian Water Ice & Ice Cream” located at 442 E. Hanes Mill Road next to PetSmart in Oak Summit Shopping Center.

WOS was the creation of Maine and Kiter. The pair had been in discussion about starting a business and earlier this year they chose to make that dream come to fruition. Maine already has several businesses under her belt, including a water ice shop by the name of Chilly Philly, so she was well versed in that area.

“I am an entrepreneur, so if someone tells me they want to start a business, I believe in helping people achieve their goals and dreams,” said Maine.

Maine and Kiter have worked together for nearly a decade in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System  with the JROTC students in the schools. They have always had a successful relationship with one another and figured a business would be no different.

“There’s a lot of things that we do together, and we have been so successful at everything we have been doing with the school system, we started thinking that we needed to do something for ourselves,” said Kiter. “We were in competition one day and we were joking around and just said, let’s do this ice cream shop.”

“We were just sitting around and thinking that we are retired, and we are set for life, but what about our kids and our kid’s kids?” Maine asked. “We started thinking about legacy and we got to leave something for them, which is another reason we got into this.

“We also like to give back to the community. We opened up World of Swirlz and we only hired high school and college kids because we wanted to give them an opportunity to learn customer service, to learn responsibility, leadership, and be in charge, which will set them up to go out into the community and be successful.”

The planning for the shop began in early April of this year. Being that Maine was familiar with the process, the preparation process for the shop went fairly smoothly, but there were rocky moments along the way.

“I think it was bumpy and it was smooth,” Maine said about the planning process for opening the shop. “It was hard finding someone to rent to us. With the economy and things that are happening out here, it was difficult, but we found the right spot.  

“I think the smoothness was that we already had a foundation because I have been in the restaurant business for almost 10 years and I got the other ice cream shop. We had our bumps in the road, but Mike stood by me and he’s my sanity because I can get kind of crazy sometimes.”

When it came to the menu, WOS wanted to offer something for everyone in the family. Kiter was the mastermind behind putting the finer touches on the menu to ensure WOS had something for everyone, kids and adults included. They have alcohol infused menu items for the adults.

“I think Mike came up with the idea. He wanted the store to offer something for everybody in the family,” Maine said about the menu. “Not everybody likes ice cream, not everybody likes water ice, and you have some adults that are out with the kids that want an adult treat.”

Kiter added, “That’s kind of our motto: Something for the whole family.”

World of Swirlz had their grand opening on June 4 for the Winston-Salem community to come out and enjoy what the shop had to offer. They had a pretty nice turnout and are ready for the summer months to let word of mouth expand their customer base.

Kiter and Maine are eager to see how well the shop is received. They are hoping that it really takes off as they would love to open up multiple locations of WOS.

“I think we can go to the next level. We have a lot of interest in the name itself and when people come in and look at our menu, they really enjoy looking at what we have to offer,” Kiter said about the shop. “There has been about six or seven offers already about people wanting to open a store in their area. I don’t think there is anything that can really stop us at this point, and we are very pleased for sure.”

WOS offers discounts to churches, first responders and military members. They are open Tuesday-Friday. from 1 – 9 p.m., Saturday from 12 – 9 p.m., Sunday from 2 – 8 p.m. They are closed on Mondays.