An entrepreneurial couple brings ice cream and coffee to downtown Pacific Grove.

America’s Last Hometown, Pacific Grove, is abuzz over the fact that it finally has a bona fide ice cream shop after years without one. The fact that Colette’s opened recently on Lighthouse Avenue in downtown even got a shoutout from the dais at P.G. City Council.

“I am glad there is an ice cream shop in town. That is number one for me,” said a smiling Councilmember Chaps Poduri during a meeting in May.

One would think that a seaside town frequented by tourists would have an abundance of ice cream shops. And yet, P.G. has relied on places like Lucy’s on Lighthouse, which sells Marianne’s Ice Cream from Santa Cruz, and Thrifty Ice Cream from the case at Rite Aid, now shuttered due to bankruptcy.

Pagrovians and tourists craving the frozen treat freshly scooped had to cross over into Monterey where there are chain shops and restaurants to visit – Nico’s Real Fruit Ice Cream is the latest addition along Cannery Row.

Two Monterey shops, Revival Ice Cream and Monterey Bay Creamery, make ice cream in-house. Colette’s joins Revival as the second shop on the Peninsula selling organic ice cream made in the store.

Owners Nicole and Roy Ballesteros are true entrepreneurs – Colette’s is their third business, with Nicole owning a hair salon in downtown Monterey and Roy owning a window and exterior building cleaning business. They have five children, ages 4-21 – the shop is named after their youngest daughter.

It was Roy who years ago shared with Nicole that his dream was to make and sell ice cream.

“‘Everyone’s always really happy when they go into an ice cream shop and you don’t see people bummed out there. They’re having a good experience,’” Nicole remembers Roy saying. Roy attended an ice cream school in Florida to learn how to make the stuff, and later the couple went to another workshop in Boise, Idaho that focused on business operations.

The couple focuses on classic flavors – vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, of course, along with rocky road, pistachio and around 15 other flavors developed by Nicole, offered on a rotating basis. They make two dairy-free options with one always in the case.

For a long time the idea of opening an ice cream shop was a “fun dream,” Nicole says, “but then everything finally aligned for this to become possible.”

Roy told his friend, developer Dan Silverie, about his dream of making people happy with ice cream. Silverie suggested they rent a commercial space in the condo building he constructed at 520 Lighthouse Ave. A year and a half later, and after a lot of hard work, late nights and “a whole lot of heart and hustle,” says Nicole, Colette’s is open.

Making ice cream wasn’t Nicole’s dream, but she originally told Roy she would “1000 percent support” him. “And now I’m the one making the ice cream,” Nicole says. She wasn’t even a big consumer of ice cream, until now. “I’ve eaten more ice cream in the last two months than I have in my entire life. I’m not even joking,” she says.

Nicole is particular about which ingredients she uses. She chose Strauss organic ice cream base, and uses locally grown strawberries and other local ingredients for her recipes. The chocolate is either Ghiradelli’s or Guittards. She uses natural ingredients to color ice cream, like spirulina for the green shades of mint chocolate chip and pistachio. (One exception is Oreos for the cookies and cream.)

Already they say they’re getting calls from the likes of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Pebble Beach Company, asking if they can make ice cream for them, something they are figuring out. They are planning ice cream sandwiches and pints to go.

Beyond ice cream, the couple added an espresso machine for morning coffee and Ad Astra pastries. Nicole’s love of coffee and Roy’s ice cream dream inspired the pairing. They even created an image of a personified ice cream cone and a coffee cup, arm in arm. Under the words “Ice Cream-Coffee-Community” is the saying “Best Duo in Town.”

COLETTE’S ICE CREAM, 520 Lighthouse Ave., Suite 100, Pacific Grove. 7am-8pm, Tuesday to Thursday; 7am-10pm, Friday and Saturday; 7am-8pm, Sunday. 999-0987, colettesicecream.com