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Food

Carnival Barker's tiny ice cream shop in Dallas has closed

"I'm done with the ice cream biz," says owner Aaron Barker. Sad.

Scrappy Dallas ice cream shop Carnival Barker's has closed. The Oak Cliff shop was located in a 500-square-foot storefront in Oak Cliff. It was small -- teeny, actually -- though it was tons larger than owner Aaron Barker's first shop, a 100-square-footer near the entrance of Truck Yard in Dallas.

When Barker opened the shop in 2015, Barker said of the new place, "This is my dream come true." I called it his "Willy Wonka-esque ice cream shop" and he had big dreams about what it could be.

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But the Observer reports Barker closed his shop at the end of January. He took on a second job in late 2016 to pay his ice cream bills, he told the Observer's Beth Rankin.

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Barker's small-scale ice cream dream was one interesting part of his story. He also served another community: underage punk-rock kids looking for a place to listen to music -- and to play it. "The Oak Cliff shop has been especially useful for young punk rock bands struggling to find gigs," we wrote in the fall of 2016.

Barker confirms the shop closed and that he doesn't have plans to scoop ice cream anytime soon.

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"I'm done with the ice cream biz," he says.