What a $15 pint of ice cream says about the economy | CNN Business

Hopkins, Minnesota —

It’s a breezy, 80-degree sunny day on Mainstreet here and, stretching down the block, there’s a line of people waiting to pick up pints of ice cream they ordered for about $15 a pop.

Then again, it could be a blustery, below-freezing winter day on Mainstreet here, and there still would be a line of people waiting to pick up pints of ice cream for $15 a pop.

The phenomenon is not unique to this quaint Minneapolis suburb, nor to the hometown A to Z Creamery, nor even to ice cream.

But, in a way, these paperboard pints hold more than just artisanal frozen concoctions: They’re 16-ounce windows into what’s become a layered and complex US economy.