For those who have ever imagined another world hiding just one door-pull away, new Lewis Center ice cream shop CRMD has a surprise in store.

Located at 5915 Evans Farm Drive, Suite G, in Lewis Center, CRMD is the third shop of its kind. Other locations are in the Short North right off of High Street in Columbus and in Lakeview East, a little north of downtown Chicago.

Owner Ben Stoyka wears many hats at CRMD. He takes care of everything from cleaning and doing the dishes to scooping the different flavors for customers, as well as logistics and payroll to make sure all the stores are running properly.

His idea for this business began in 2016 when he returned to Ohio for the holidays after living in California.

“(We were) unhappy with our jobs and wanted to do something of our own,” Stoyka said. “While we were home for Christmas, we saw a market for a lot of the things that we’ve seen traveling and just living in California in general that were not in Ohio.”

Stoyka said he wanted to bring the aspects he’d seen from traveling all into one place.

“We landed on ice cream, then started the business plan, and then started formulating everything and dialing in the flavors and doing all of our market research,” Stoyka said.”Then, we planned to move back to Ohio and sold everything and just took a leap of faith and ran with it.”

Upon walking into CRMD, the interior is white and black, as to match the aesthetic of each of the buildings lining Evans Farm, the development it stands in. The focal point is not only the different barrels of ice cream found behind the glass, but the bright red, vintage Coke machine positioned against the wall.

Pulling the side of the machine opens a neon-colored portal leading to a whole different set of vibes and a full bar, complete with dim lights, 90s-style plastic furniture, and the atmosphere of an old speakeasy.

“When we first started CRMD, we wanted to kind of target the younger demographic as most ice cream shops were catered toward families or older adults, so we went towards a market that wasn’t there.” Stoyka said. “After being open for over four years and being in a few different areas, we’re seeing everyone kind of enjoys our shop. With it being so different, it allows people to experience a different aspect of something that they haven’t before.”

Stoyka is proud of what he and his team have been able to bring to Lewis Center.

“My favorite part of this business is probably the final stages of opening a store and kind of seeing a whole picture come to life – seeing the customer’s reactions with the things that I knew I took the extra 10 steps to make happen even though it wasn’t the funnest times. It’s been awesome seeing that come to life and people actually enjoying it,” Stoyka said.

CRMD is located alongside the many other establishments at the front of Evans Farm, Lewis Center, and its hours of operation can be found at https://www.getcrmd.com/.