To me, it's just another gimmick. I went to the one in Portland with my daughter and son-in-law. To me, it's the kind of place that appeals to a younger, hipper crowd than I belong to. I love ice cream and was excited when my daughter told me we were going to this great ice cream place, but it took forever and after sampling several flavors, I settled on one that wasn't filled with herbs or other 'cool' ingredients. I love ice cream. I make my own and experiment to a degree, but Salt and Straw, IMO, is simply tapping a market of people looking for the next thing. I much prefer HD's Belgian Chocolate ice cream and I will miss them.
This is how I feel too. I'm an ice cream "purist", I guess, and still find Haagen Dazs to be the best commercially available ice cream. I make my own also, but when I buy it, it's Haagen Dazs or nothing. I'm sick of all these gimmicky ice cream places like the nitrogen ones or the crazy flavors with all kinds of mix ins. My kids like plain ice cream too...plain vanilla or chocolate. I'm actually surprised Salt & Straw even has a plain vanilla flavor, but I'm sure there's something about it that will make it unappealing to my kids. It's probably uber fancy with like 5 kinds of vanilla in it or something, and will probably be overwhelming.