“We kind of wanted to start a business anyway and it just fell in place and seemed like the right time,” Curt Turner said. “Everything’s getting redone downtown, so it seems like a good opportunity, plus, we want to do it in memory of Jan.”
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That’s the late Jan Belue, one of the three co-founders who opened the ice cream parlor in 2008. Belue died in June 2021, but her family kept operating the storefront, which is adjacent to the Plaza Theatre. When they decided to sell, the Turners, who have known the Belue family for 40 years, reached out and purchased the business.
The couple said they are honored to carry on Belue’s legacy.
“She was always in a cheerful mood, always there to help out anybody,” Curt Turner said. “If somebody came in and didn’t have enough money, she would just give them ice cream for free. She was from Miamisburg and always helped out around the city.”
They said they’re also “honored and thankful” that Belue’s husband, Pete, and her son, Rusty, trusted them to take over ownership.
“Jan, Pete, Kim, Kris, Rusty and their whole family mean the world to our family, and we are so excited for this new adventure,” the Turners wrote on 3 Dips Ice Cream Shoppe’s Facebook page.
The couple said they will staff the store along with their daughter, Kirsten, and two other employees.
“Everything pretty much stayed the same,” Curt Turner said. “We just added a soft-serve ice cream machine and added a few touches of our own.”
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