Sylvie Dee’s will open its third location on Saturday, Sept. 26, bringing the ice cream and sweets shop to 8115 Maryland Ave. in Clayton.
The original Webster Groves location opened in June 2024, followed by a second location at City Foundry in May 2025. Unlike the relatively quick expansion into City Foundry, the Clayton project has required a significant renovation of the former Posh Nosh space, including new plumbing, electrical work and flooring.
Ice cream will remain at the heart of the Clayton shop, with the same menu offered at Sylvie Dee’s other locations. Their most popular ice cream flavors include the Cookie Monster, salty caramel swirl, lemon sorbet, Gold Coast, and marshmallow coconut. Customers can order scoops, “Saturdaes,” which is their version of a sundae, milkshakes, malts, floats, dirty sodas and fountain sodas, as well as ice cream flights and ice cream nachos.
The new location will also introduce a pastry kitchen, allowing Sylvie Dee’s to produce its baked goods in-house. Melissa Ragsdale, the pastry chef behind Ragsy Pastries, will oversee the program. Ragsdale has previously operated her pastry business through wholesale and commissary kitchens, and she now has a dedicated space to develop baked goods for Sylvie Dee’s. The program will begin with a limited selection before expanding.
“Cinnamon rolls are my biggest excitement,” owner Rachel Clossen said. Along with the large cinnamon rolls, the pastry case will feature house-made croissants, including chocolate, pistachio, apple almond and ham and cheese, seasonal loaves, brownies, blondies and cookies, along with a few savory pastries. The pastry program will eventually supply Maypop, another business owned by Clossen and her team.
The in-house kitchen represents a significant shift for Sylvie Dee’s, which previously relied on a commissary kitchen and wholesale operation for its baked goods. “That’s what’s different about this shop,” Clossen said. “Now it’s all in-house.”
Customers can expect fresh-baked goods each morning, though Clossen said the pastry team will need some time to determine how much of each item the new location will go through.
Candy will be another major focus of the Clayton shop, with approximately 36 varieties of bulk pick-and-mix sweets available for customers to scoop into bags from a wall display, alongside wrapped and international candies. “We’re gonna have a ton of nostalgic candy, international candy. And of course, Swedish candy,” Clossen said. The shop will also carry local chocolates from Bijoux and Bissinger’s, displayed in a case where customers can create their own boxes.
The coffee program will be more limited than at Sylvie Dee’s other locations because of its proximity to neighboring Colombian coffee shop Zensia. The shop will offer drip and pour-over coffee from Vapore Coffee, along with matcha, chai and seasonal drinks.
Sylvie Dee’s expects to initially operate from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with hours subject to seasonal changes.
For Clossen, the neighborhood character of Clayton was a major factor in choosing the location. She hopes the shop will develop the same kind of regular customer base that has formed around the Webster Groves location. “That is the real reason why we chose this location is because it has that neighborhood vibe,” she said.
As construction wraps up, Clossen is looking forward to seeing the finished space come together. “I used to be a preschool teacher, and I’ve always dabbled in design. I love to cook, I love to bake and I love to host,” she said. “So getting to do something that’s creative and for kids, I just love it. I’m so satisfied.”