Entry No. 48 — the Memphis file — filed under: sno-cone
Jerry's Sno Cones
The order is the Supreme — ice cream sunk inside the sno cone rather than perched on top, so you dig down through shaved ice and syrup and hit the cold seam partway. Jerry's has been doing it out of the Wells Station Road walk-up in Berclair long enough that the summer line down the sidewalk is a fixed feature of the neighborhood. The menu keeps going past the point of reason: dipped cones, sundaes, banana splits, milkshakes, funnel cakes, plus actual burgers and pretzels if someone in the party wants dinner disguised as an errand. There's a second, newer location on Bonnie Lane in Cordova that runs later hours, but Wells Station is the original and the one with the mythology. Closed Sundays at both.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Memphis — never the same twice
The story
In the late 1960s L.B. and Cordia Clifton bought an old Sinclair gas station at an out-of-the-way intersection in northeast Memphis and turned it into a combination carwash and snow-cone stand, named for their son Jerry. It opened in 1969. The carwash faded; the snow cones did not. Somewhere along the way a restless Clifton grandchild started burying soft-serve vanilla inside the shaved ice instead of parking it on top, and the Supreme was born. The pastel exterior was recognisable enough by 1989 that the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire used it as a backdrop, but for decades it stayed a Berclair neighborhood habit.
David Acklin, who had chased girls at the stand in high school, bought Jerry's from the Cliftons in 2005 and set about making the Supreme famous. "We were the best-kept secret in town for a while," he told Garden & Gun in 2022. "Now customers tell me they came to Memphis to visit two places - Graceland and Jerry's." He credits the ice: fine enough that it blends into the soft serve rather than sitting beside it. On a hot day, he says, three thousand spoons disappear. In July 2018 he opened a second Jerry's at 1601 Bonnie Lane in Cordova, a boxy building painted shouting pink with garage doors that roll up in warm weather and a wall where customers write down their hopes.
Then the original went. On May 15th, 2024 Jerry's announced on Facebook that the Wells Station Road stand was closing after 55 years, giving no reason: "We are grateful for the past memories and are looking forward to new family memories at our Cordova location." The lot sold that April for $315,000, and in early 2025 permits were filed to demolish the building for a 3,612-square-foot convenience store with no gas pumps. Cordova is the Jerry's still shaving ice.
What it's like
Go to Cordova. The Bonnie Lane store is a squat pink box off Germantown Parkway with garage doors that come up when it is warm, and you order from a board of seventy-odd flavors that runs from the obvious to Ghost Busters (marshmallow cut with Toxic Waste) and Mystery (every top vanilla flavor mixed together). Say the word Supreme and then pick a size down from the one you think you want, because the soft serve sits inside the ice rather than on it and the volume is deceptive. There is a wall for writing down what you are hoping for, which lands harder than it sounds. On a hot evening the line is long and moves; this is not a place to arrive impatient, and it is closed every Sunday.
The move: Drive out to Wells Station around 6pm on a weeknight, order two Supremes in flavors neither of you has heard of, and eat them standing in the lot or on the hood — there's no dining room and that's the point. Then keep going into Midtown for a proper drink, sugar-loaded and slightly sticky.
📍 Before you go Phone 901-767-2659 (Wells Station); the Cordova store at 1601 Bonnie Lane is 901-249-8718. Wells Station runs Mon-Sat 11am-7pm and is closed Sunday; Cordova goes later, to 8pm weekdays and 9pm Fri-Sat. Order the Supreme by name and pick a size down from what you think you want — they are much larger than they look. It's a walk-up window with no indoor seating, so plan on eating outside or in the car, and expect a real wait on hot evenings. Hours can tighten in the coldest months, so call before making a winter trip.
- 📍 Memphis
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1657 Wells Station Rd, Memphis, TN 38108
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Asian Night Market — Memphis Agricenter — The Agricenter on Walnut Grove is a short drive from Cordova and runs on the same logic: eating standing up, outdoors, on a warm evening, off a board you have to read twice.
- Crystal Shrine Grotto — Memorial Park on Poplar is a daytime stop on the same side of town, and a man-made crystal cave followed by a Supreme is a defensible use of an afternoon.
- Gibson's Donuts — The other east-side sugar institution, over on Mount Moriah, and the one still going at hours when Jerry's has long since shut the window.
More weird in Memphis
Good to know
Which Jerry's is actually open?
The Cordova store, 1601 Bonnie Lane, 901-249-8718. The original Wells Station Road stand in Berclair closed in May 2024 after 55 years, and demolition permits for a convenience store on that site were filed in early 2025. The company website still lists both addresses, so do not use it as a status check.
What are the Cordova hours?
Monday through Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 9pm, closed Sunday. Acklin has said the Memphis climate keeps Jerry's viable year-round, but hot evenings are when the line forms.
What do I order?
A Supreme - a snow cone with soft-serve vanilla layered inside it, which is the thing Jerry's is known for and which well over half the line orders. Acklin's own pick is blue raspberry Supreme; the Garden & Gun writer who converted did it on Mango Tango and stayed for cherry-lime. There are also burgers, cheesesteaks, funnel cakes, sundaes and churros if someone wants dinner.
Is there anywhere to sit?
The Cordova building was designed with roll-up garage doors so the room opens to the outside in warm months. Even so, when the line is deep, plan on eating standing in the lot or in the car.
Can I still see the original?
No. The Wells Station Road building - the converted Sinclair station that appeared in Great Balls of Fire - was sold in April 2024 and permitted for demolition in 2025. Berclair keeps the memory; the ice moved east.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26