What Kind of Dessert Night Are You Actually Having?

A Myrtle Beach dessert stop comes down to one question: are you going for ice cream, or does ice cream just happen to you? Sweet Molly's Creamery has been answering the first kind of question from its spot at Barefoot Landing since 2004 — a family-owned creamery where the ice cream is made in-store daily and the evening has a certain intention to it. You chose this. You parked. You're here for the scoop, not because you passed a sign while the kids were already pulling your arm. Then there's the other kind of night — the boardwalk kind — where the music is already going and the SkyWheel is already lit and the treat finds you as much as you find it. That's Mad Myrtle's territory: the oldest ice cream parlor on Ocean Boulevard, where most people walk in still warm from the sun and walk out cone-first into the crowd.

Sweet Molly's earns its reputation the quiet way. The Barefoot Landing location has been in the same spot for more than two decades — a detail that matters on the Grand Strand, where turnover is constant and longevity is its own kind of proof. You come here with some intention behind it. Maybe it's the end of a dinner you didn't want to end. Maybe the kids earned something. Whatever the reason, you've made a small decision that the rest of the evening is going to be unhurried.

The ice cream is made fresh in the shop in small batches, which changes the texture in ways that reveal themselves somewhere between the first and second spoonful. The whole creamery is named after Molly, a rescue dog — she's the mascot, the official taste-tester, and the reason a portion of revenues goes to local animal rescue groups. There's even a sundae on the menu just for dogs. You're not performing a beach vacation here. You're just cooling down somewhere that feels like it belongs to the neighborhood.

Mad Myrtle's works differently. You don't always decide to go there — sometimes you just end up at the door because the boardwalk deposited you there. That's not a knock. That's the entire logic of 918 North Ocean Boulevard.

The oldest sit-down ice cream parlor in the Oceanfront Boardwalk District, Mad Myrtle's has been a fixture since it opened in 2000. The interior runs vintage and loud in the best way — Coca-Cola signage, old skateboard collections — and the energy outside is doing most of the work. The ice cream is the anchor that gives you a reason to slow down inside it, even briefly. The boardwalk is still happening when you walk back out. The night hasn't ended; it's just shifted.

The behavioral difference between these two isn't about the ice cream itself. It's about what surrounds the scoop.

At Sweet Molly's, the foot traffic is your own family or whoever you came with. The evening has a low ceiling on it — not in a limiting way, but in the sense that this is dessert as punctuation. It closes something out.

At Mad Myrtle's, the boardwalk crowd density shifts late into summer evenings, and the impulse to keep the night going doesn't require much encouragement. The ice cream stop becomes part of the momentum rather than the end of it.

Neither is better. One closes the loop. The other keeps it open.

Where: 4728F Hwy 17 S, North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582. Located inside the Barefoot Landing shopping and entertainment complex.

Also at: Broadway at the Beach — 1205 Celebrity Circle #145, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577.

Hours: Open daily at 11am; closing hours vary by season. Check current hours before visiting:

• Barefoot Landing retail hours

• Broadway at the Beach retail hours

Phone: Barefoot Landing: (843) 663-4373 | Broadway at the Beach: (843) 232-7496

More:sweetmollyscreamery.com

Where: 918 N Ocean Blvd, Suite A, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. Located in the Oceanfront Boardwalk District.

Hours: Check current hours before visiting — hours may shift seasonally. madmyrtles.com

Phone: (843) 626-0022

Parking note: Boardwalk-area parking compresses in peak season. Plan to park once and walk. Verify current garage options through the City of Myrtle Beach before your visit.

Lodging note: Summer evenings on Ocean Boulevard run dense — especially weekends in peak season. Guests who've already settled into a rental outside the immediate boardwalk corridor typically do better arriving early in the evening and building the walk into the plan rather than navigating the late-night lot shuffle.

Two ice cream spots in Myrtle Beach, one question worth asking before you go: is tonight about landing somewhere, or staying in motion? Sweet Molly's has been making that answer easy since 2004. Mad Myrtle's has been catching everyone else for just as long. The scoop is good either way. What differs is what you walk into after.