New owners preparing to reopen Oakland institution Dave & Andy’s Homemade Ice Cream

PITTSBURGH — Sarah Kasten is working her way into her junior year at the University of Pittsburgh with an extracurricular activity rooted in her parents’ past that goes well beyond her role as a cheerleader.

It is Kasten along with her parents, Jason and Laura, who are working to reopen Dave & Andy’s Homemade Ice Cream, an Oakland shop that closed in the Spring after a 40-year-run. At the time, founding owner, Andy Hardie, opted to close as he sought to retire, doing so after a four-decade run in which the shop became a beloved neighborhood institution, as one of the first local independent ice cream shops to focus on homemade ice cream.

The Kasten family has bought the business and is putting the 1,000-square-foot shop through some basic renovations and ramping up staff as it works to reopen in the coming weeks.