Locals’ Guide to Grand Rapids Ice Cream Shops

Frosty Boy

Frosty Boy is the clear winner in this year’s poll – but there’s a bit of a catch. Two different owners operate three Frosty Boy locations in town, and our respondents didn’t specify which was their favorite. Our advice? Try them all!

Frosty Boy Grand Rapids, in the city’s Creston neighborhood, is the original ice cream shop with that name. It opened in the mid-80s, closed for about a decade in the early 2000s, and reopened in 2015, to the delight of its longtime fans. Probably best known for its unique lemon-flavored soft-serve ice cream, Frosty Boy also serves other soft-serve flavors, scooped ice cream and all sorts of frozen desserts.

Frosty Boy of Cascade (opened in 2016) and Frosty Boy of Lowell (2024) also serve up delicious soft-serve and hard-serve treats, with plenty of gluten-free, vegan and non-dairy options. In addition to sweet treats, they offer savory chicken, hot dogs, wing dings and more.

All three Frosty Boys are open seasonally, typically from sometime in March through early October.

Tippy Cow Ice Cream

Also outpacing the rest of the field by quite a margin is Tippy Cow Ice Cream in Grandville, which offers “small-batch, super-premium house-made ice cream” at affordable prices. This is where locals come for premium hard-serve flavors like Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, Lemon Oreo and Vegan Samoa Cookie. There are typically 15 or so hard-serve choices offered at all times, and you can also get soft-serve ice cream (with homemade waffle cones) plus a wide variety of flurries, shakes, slushes, sundaes and other frozen treats. Open seasonally.

Furniture City Creamery

Furniture City Creamery also specializes in handcrafted ice cream flavors. The Uptown neighborhood shop rotates more than 65 flavors, including multiple vegan (coconut milk-based) options, available in cones, cups, pints, floats and more. Furniture City opened a second location in the city’s Creston neighborhood in 2025: Sweets-n-Treats offers a grab-and-go selection of ice cream pints, small-batch creamsicles and popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and more. No need to wait for summer to indulge – both shops are open year-round.

Barry G’s Italian Ice

Located in Dutton, less than 20 minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, Barry G’s offers a rotating menu of 60+ artisan ice cream flavors and 50+ dairy-free Italian ice selections, including such “adult” flavors as Rum Raisin Ice Cream and Jack and Coke Italian Ice. Because everything’s made from scratch, the menu changes daily and may include malts, shakes and even ice cream flights. Open year-round.

Jersey Junction

Nestled in the heart of Gaslight Village in East Grand Rapids, Jersey Junction is the epitome of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, both in menu items and décor. It was established in 1963 by Doris “Chris” VanAllsburg, mother of “The Polar Express” author/illustrator Chris VanAllsburg, and a model of that fictional train to the North Pole runs along the ceiling of the shop. Jersey Junction offers a diverse array of ice cream made by local manufacturer Hudsonville Ice Cream. Seasonal.

Love's Ice Cream and Chocolate

Locals have nothing but love for Love’s Ice Cream , located inside The Grand Rapids Downtown Market . Open year-round, Love’s is praised for its handcrafted ice cream, vegan gelato, sorbet, baked goods and confections. All of Love’s menu items are made from scratch using organic ingredients, such as grass-fed dairy and produce from farms in Michigan. Order an ice cream flight of five different flavors, offered as part of the city’s Flights of Flavor food & drink promotion – sign up for a pass and earn fun prizes. 

44^th Street Dog & Dairy

44^th Street Dog & Dairy is a walk-up window serving locally made Hudsonville hand-scooped ice cream, soft-serve ice cream, slushies, floats, sundaes, flurries and ice cream nachos (yum!), as well as hot food like hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries and onion rings. A spacious parking lot and outdoor picnic tables accommodate summertime crowds. Located right off the US-131 highway at 44^th Street.
 

Sweet Rewards

Serving Grand Rapids for nearly a quarter century, Sweet Rewards offers a rotating selection of hand-scooped ice cream flavors from Michigan and Wisconsin dairies as well as soft-serve selections, floats, flurries, sundaes, banana splits, slushes and other frozen treats. New Flavor Fridays always bring forth a delectable surprise. Hot dogs and other Walk up or drive thru at this shop 15 minutes south of downtown GR. Seasonal.

Heights Cream

Heights Cream is a family-owned ice cream shop in the Alger Heights neighborhood of southeast Grand Rapids. Nestled into the front corner of Alger Hardware and Rental, it features hard- and soft-serve ice cream from Michigan’s Mooville Creamery. The shop rotates dozens of flavors in and out of the menu, several of which are egg and gluten free. There are dairy-free soft-serve options as well. You can also order flurries, shakes, malts, floats, slushies and sundaes at the walk-up window. Heights Cream is open March-September, though you can grab pints and ice cream cakes throughout the year. 

Double Dip Depot

This ice cream shop in Walker, about 15 minutes northwest of downtown GR, serves locally made Hudsonville ice cream as well as soft-serve varieties, flurries, frozen cokes and other sweet treats, plus food like hot dogs, chicken tenders and French fries. You can play a round of golf at the Double Dip Depot and snap a selfie in the giant orange chair next to the golf course, or just relax and people-watch at a patio picnic table. Seasonal.

Cone City

Located in the Town & Country Shopping Plaza in southeast Grand Rapids, Cone City offers everything you’d expect from a walk-up ice cream shop – including soft-serve and hard-serve cones, sundaes, banana splits, ice cream sandwiches, flurries, sorbets, slushes, shakes, malts and floats. Get a burger or hot dog before or after your sweet treat (we won’t judge) and enjoy it to go or on Cone City’s covered patio from May through September. 

Scooper’s Ice Cream Shoppe

A walk-up shop in walkable downtown Ada, Scooper’s offers 50+ flavors made by local creamery Hudsonville Ice Cream along with shakes, slushies, malts, sundaes, sorbets and other ice cream specialties. Grab an outdoor seat or stroll around the village and window-shop while you enjoy your goodies. Seasonal.

Dairy De-Lite

This longtime Comstock Park favorite is located right next to the White Pine Trail, so it’s a perfect spot to reward yourself after a bike ride or hike – or to refuel yourself in the middle of one. Dairy De-lite serves Hudsonville hand-dipped ice cream, soft-serve ice cream, flurries, shakes, sundaes, shaved ice and slushes, with limited-time flavors rotated in and out of the menu. Seasonal.

Too Tall's Tasty Treats

“Sweet Treats & Savory Eats” is the promise at Too Tall’s, a takeout ice cream shop not far from Riverside Park in the city’s Creston neighborhood. Locals love the towering vanilla, chocolate and vanilla/chocolate twist soft-serve cones. (As far as we know, no one’s actually complained that they’re piled “too tall.”) Each week brings a new soft-serve flavor that can be twisted with vanilla. There are also many Hudsonville Ice Cream hard-serve flavors to choose from, as well as shakes, slushies, floats, sundaes, flurries and popsicles. The savory menu comprises a few burgers, hot dogs, chicken dishes and apps/sides. Seasonal.

Sparta Tasty Treat

A classic hometown ice cream shop in the classic small town of Sparta, about 20 minutes north of Grand Rapids, Sparta Tasty Treat serves ultra-rich, premium ice cream from Wisconsin-based Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Co. Assorted soft-serve flavors are available in a cone, a cup, or loaded up nachos-style. Weekly specials dazzle the taste buds with over-the-top indulgence. Seasonal.

Honorable Mention

Brink’s Ice Cream Express in downtown Caledonia boasts an expansive menu of scrumptious frozen treats, including ice cream flights and handmade ice cream sandwiches. Seasonal.

Kilwin’s is a year-round downtown Grand Rapids destination offering 32 flavors of original-recipe ice cream plus shakes, malts, sundaes, chocolates, fudge and more. A second Kilwin’s location in East Grand Rapids serves up the same sweet treats. 

Woody’s Cone Stop, a 28^th St. fixture since 2000, offers hard-packed Hudsonville Ice Cream flavors and soft-serve selections including a luscious lemon-vanilla twist, plus rotating frozen yogurts and Dole Whips. Seasonal.

Rocky’s Dairy Depot in downtown Rockford has been scooping up an assortment of ice cream flavors, sundaes, banana splits, flurries and more since 1981. Seasonal.

Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard is a national chain that quickly gained a local fan base after opening in Breton Village Shopping Center in spring 2025. Year-round.

Burlingame Dip in Wyoming serves regular and vegan, non-dairy soft-serve flavors plus Hudsonville hand-packed ice cream, cereal shakes, Dole whips and much more. Seasonal.

Houseman’s Ice Cream is a longtime Byron Center favorite offering dairy-free soft-serve and hand-scooped selections plus a full complement of traditional frozen treats. Seasonal.

Paper Clips Ice Cream is a food truck serving 20-30 pre-packaged ice cream options at both public and private events.

The Pump House in Knapps Corner, a few steps from Celebration Cinema North, is known for its frozen yogurt bar but locals also love its selection of hard-serve ice cream flavors. Year-round.

The Ice Cream Garage in Walker offers dozens of soft-serve and Hudsonville hand-dipped ice cream flavors, and a wide variety of other cold-and-sweet options.

La Michiocana 3 Reyes on 28^th St. in Wyoming makes its own ice cream, including such Mexican-inspired flavors as Tres Leches, Beso de Angel and Ron Con Pasas, and offers many other south-of-the-border sweet treats, as well.

Got a yen for even more of summer’s favorite foods? Check out Grand Rapids’ favorite frozen yogurt shops, hot dog joints and burger places.