Take a look inside this new ice cream cookie sandwich eatery at Broadway at the Beach

With the warm weather of spring and summer, Broadway at the Beach fills with crowds of tourists and vacationers who make their annual trek to Myrtle Beach.

As they walk around in the hotter-than-normal weather anticipated for this summer, many might want something to help them cool down. While Broadway at the Beach has plenty of ice cream options, one of the site’s newest additions takes an interesting twist—it features mix-and-matching toppings, cookies and other goodies to make different combinations of ice cream cookies.

Baked Bear, a national ice cream sandwich chain, will open Friday, April 26, at 7 p.m. Store owner Sarah Giamoni said the first 100 people will get a free ice cream sandwich. The eatery specializes in ice cream sandwiches and bowls that come in many flavors and combinations.

At 1210 Celebrity Circle, Unit 205, next to the Stupid Company t-shirt shop, Baked Bear offers 12 specialty ice cream flavors, 12 cookies and brownies, and 12 toppings for customers to build custom ice cream cookies — not including limited-run offerings, too. Customers can mix and match different ice creams, cookies and flavors with their orders, and if their taste buds desire, add whipped cream on top of their creations.

“We make different cookies every day,” Giamoni said. “You can mix and match. You don’t have to pick two of the same.”

Baked Bear—which provides gluten-free options—also offers to panini press your creation, which, after 17 seconds, ensures the cookie is hot while the ice cream stays cool.

Notable ice cream flavors include mud pie, a coffee-based offering with a fudge swirl and Oreo cookies crushed within. Baked Bear also has its specialty Bear Batter, a bright blue ice cream made with cake batter, brownies, and—of course—sprinkles.

While ice cream cookies are the specialty, parents of little kids can also get cleaner options for their children prone to wearing their dessert instead of eating it. Giamoni said Baked Bear also serves bowls, with chocolate chip cookies or brownies pressed into a bowl and the ice cream scooped on top.

Giamoni operates the store with her husband, Michael. The couple previously lived in Raleigh, N.C., but discovered the California-based Baked Bear while traveling from Los Angeles to San Diego, Calif. Sarah, a self-described “foodie” who eats gluten-free choices, said they tried Baked Bear while on their trip.

Sarah got a fudge chocolate brownie cookie and a chocolate chip cookie with oat milk chocolate chip ice cream in the middle. Michael got the butter brittle cake ice cream surrounded by the gooey butter cake cookie— a yellow cake-based cookie— and white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.

“There are very few dessert places that are open to (gluten-free ),” Sarah Giamoni said. “At the end of the cash register, it said now franchising, and we had been looking to open a business ... Two years later, here we are.”

Giamoni said Baked Bear chose Myrtle Beach and Broadway at the Beach because they wanted to target a vacation audience, be close to the beach and have access to walking traffic.

“My husband and I are from the north, and a lot of northerners come to Myrtle Beach to vacation,” Sarah Giamoni said. We just came back to where our families have always visited.”

The eatery will have tables inside and outside for people to eat their designs, and DoorDash and Uber Eats will be available. Giamoni said Baked Bear is looking to hire 20 to 25 people.