Gas is expensive. Groceries are worse. Rent has become a monthly negotiation with dread. And yet, in Hopkins, Minnesota, there's regularly a line stretching down Mainstreet for pints of ice cream that go for about $15 apiece — rain, shine, or sub-zero winter day. As CNN Business reported in late July 2026, the shop behind the phenomenon, A to Z Creamery, started as a pandemic-era side hustle and grew through "drops": limited weekly batches announced online, ordered in advance