Video: The 32nd Annual Worth Avenue Pet Parade and Costume Contest
Video: The 32nd Annual Worth Avenue Pet Parade and Costume Contest off Worth Avenue in Via Amore Saturday March 8, 2025.
- The popular Sprinkles Ice Cream closes its iconic Palm Beach shop May 26. But the business’ owners are looking to the future and a new home.
- An upcoming extended closure for work on the building where Sprinkles is located made it unfeasible for ice cream shop to stay in its current spot, owner Anson Ainsworth said.
Fans of a Palm Beach institution and favorite of visitors and residents for four decades may not have to say good-bye just yet.
Sprinkles Ice Cream, 279 Royal Poinciana Way, will close after a final day open on May 26, owner Anson Ainsworth said.
But Ainsworth and his wife and co-owner Cortney Berry are working on a new location for the business.
“It’s really important to me that people are looking at this as a move, not a final closure,” Berry said.
They can’t reveal any of the details just yet, but said they would love to stay on the island.
“It’s more of a story of hope, than we’re closing forever,” Berry said. “Because that’s just not the case.”
Berry and Ainsworth bought Sprinkles in 2023. But almost two years later, the building that houses the business faces an extended closure for repairs.
Keeping Sprinkles open through the closure just wasn’t feasible, Ainsworth said.
Flagler System Management Inc., an entity related to The Breakers Palm Beach resort, bought the landmarked building in April 2022 for a recorded $11 million. The two-story building was built in 1915.
The work that now needs to be done originally started as something that would be a short project, but now involves a closure that could last for more than six months, Ainsworth said.
“We just felt like, since we’re at that two-year mark, we would’ve had to rebuild the business again after that closure,” he said. “We did talk about and work through several options to stay where we currently are, but you know that we just did come to the difficult decision that while we are not going to close Sprinkles permanently, it is best to move it at this time, just to keep that momentum moving forward.”
When Ainsworth and Berry moved to South Florida from Houston in 2023, they did so to expand their swim school in a place where they could operate year-round — not to own a restaurant.
Then they came across a listing for a Palm Beach ice cream shop that was for sale.
The more they learned about this other business, the more they felt a connection to the “cute and iconic” Sprinkles.
“Honestly, as soon as we went and took a look at it, we knew it was the right thing for us to do,” Berry said, adding, “It felt like an opportunity that we couldn’t pass by.”
Though they can’t share where Sprinkles will move, they said they are excited to continue the restaurant’s legacy that has extended across generations.
“People coming in now, came with their parents or their grandparents,” Berry said.
When Sprinkles opened in 1985, it was a family business started by Therese Williams and her daughter, Taylor Morgan.
Sprinkles changed hands several times through the years: Ainsworth and Berry bought it from Olga Cherkasova, who bought Sprinkles in 2016 from Donna Marks. Marks had purchased the business in 2002 from Tom Walsh and Frank Manley, who had bought it in 2001 from the original owners, the Williams family.
Over the years, Sprinkles earned accolades for its ice cream — in particular, the triple chocolate supreme flavor, which in 2003 was chosen by People magazine as “the very best” America’s hometown ice cream.
Celebrities and everyday folks alike flocked to Sprinkles through the years. Even the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, stopped in to grab a scoop when he visited Palm Beach in 2003.
“We just loved what Sprinkles meant to the island, how long it had been there,” Berry said.
After buying Sprinkles, Berry and Ainsworth brought in new menu items, including boba teas and smoothies, as well as a boutique where they partnered with artisans to sell locally handcrafted items. “We just thought that it gave character, and we liked that we were working with the community,” Berry said.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
