LaSalle Brands has been selling ice cream since 1972, but only through distributors selling its pints to retail outlets in the five New York City boroughs. That is, until 2005, when it opened its first freestanding retail store, LaSalle Ice Cream and Bean Factory, at 489 Third Ave in New York City, selling ice cream, gelato, sorbet, pastries and coffee. It followed with two more stores - one on Randall Ave in the Bronx and another in Uptown Manhattan. LaSalle just recently started a franchise company and expects more than 30 of its dessert cafés to open throughout the country by the end of 2009. The first franchised stores are expected to open in Arizona and New York by the end of this summer.