NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. | June 14, 2026 | By Thomas Beach Vacations Staff

Original Painter’s Homemade Ice Cream Reopens in North Myrtle Beach with the Ice Cream King Back Behind the Counter

Dominic Anthony Munafo returns to the 74-year-old Highway 17 landmark after his family reacquired the business — with a rebuilt kitchen and made-from-scratch ice cream coming back to the menu.

One of North Myrtle Beach’s most enduring institutions is coming back. Original Painter’s Homemade Ice Cream, the 74-year-old shop at 2408 Highway 17 South that has been a fixture of Grand Strand summers since 1952, is reopening this month after the Munafo family reacquired the business following a brief period of closure under separate ownership.

Dominic Anthony Munafo — known throughout the North Myrtle Beach community as the Ice Cream King — is returning to the counter he spent more than two decades behind. The kitchen is being fully revamped with new, modern equipment, and Munafo has been clear about what that means for the menu: everything made from scratch, the way it always was, with no shortcuts on ingredients or process.

A Brief Closure, a Family Reacquisition

Munafo worked in his father James Mantzanas’s shop for more than 24 years before the family sold the business in late 2023. The new owner struggled to maintain operations at the Highway 17 South location, and the shop closed earlier in 2026 — a development that prompted an outpouring of concern from locals and regular visitors who have been making Painter’s a summer stop for generations. At one point the shop was listed as permanently closed on Google Maps.

The Munafo family moved to reacquire the business, and Dominic confirmed the return to reporters on June 9, 2026. He said he missed the work and missed the people — and that when you step away from something you love, you understand quickly what it means to you. He is back now, and he is building the kitchen from the ground up to do it right.

The Name, the Legend, and the Butter Pecan

The title of Ice Cream King was not self-appointed. Munafo earned it from the late B.B. King, the King of the Blues himself, who had a particular fondness for the shop’s butter pecan ice cream and received backstage deliveries from Munafo during performances at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach. When B.B. King met Munafo with his favorite flavor in hand, he gave him the name on the spot — and it has followed Munafo through every summer season since.

The shop’s celebrity connections run deep. Wheel of Fortune host Vanna White, a South Carolina native, has publicly praised Original Painter’s on national television and has a signature item — the Vanna Banana Split — named in her honor. A signed photograph from White hangs on the wall alongside memorabilia from Eric Clapton, Hootie and the Blowfish, Outkast, and many other performers who passed through the House of Blues over the years and found their way to Highway 17 for a cone.

Classic Exterior, Rebuilt Kitchen, New Additions

The 1950s facade that makes Original Painter’s unmistakable from the road — the red roof, the walk-up service windows, the outdoor picnic tables — is staying exactly as it is. The renovation is happening behind the scenes, inside a kitchen being fully equipped with modern machinery to support the kind of volume that a summer on the Grand Strand demands. At peak production, Munafo has made as many as 85 tubs of ice cream in a single session and kept more than 180 buckets staged ahead of the spring and summer crowds. That output, done by hand and on-site, is what has always separated Original Painter’s from every competitor on the beach.

New additions to the menu are planned alongside the return of the made-from-scratch classics — the flavors that regulars have been ordering for decades, from butter pecan and maple nut to pistachio almond, banana pudding, and the full roster of seasonal specialties. Munafo has not yet announced the complete updated lineup, but his stated standard remains what it has always been: if he won’t eat it, he won’t serve it.

Finding Original Painter’s This Summer

Original Painter’s Homemade Ice Cream is located at 2408 Highway 17 South, North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582. The red roof is visible from the road and has been a navigation landmark for returning visitors for seven decades. Visitors staying in Cherry Grove Beach, Crescent Beach, or Windy Hill will find it a short drive south on Highway 17. Those in oceanfront homes or oceanfront condos throughout North Myrtle Beach will recognize it as the kind of stop that turns a regular evening into a summer memory.

A note on a common source of confusion: a separate, entirely independent business called Painter’s Homemade Ice Cream operates in Murrells Inlet. The two shops share no affiliation. The original, at Highway 17 South in North Myrtle Beach, is the one with 74 years of history and the Ice Cream King behind the counter.

Staying in North Myrtle Beach This Summer?

Thomas Beach Vacations has oceanfront homes and condos just minutes from Original Painter’s and everything else the Grand Strand has to offer. Call (843) 273-3001 or visit northmyrtlebeachvacations.com.

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Sources: MyHorryNews.com; WMBF News; Yahoo News / AOL News (reporting by Chase Karacostas, June 9, 2026); MyrtleBeach.com. Details current as of publication date. Confirm hours directly with Original Painter’s Homemade Ice Cream at (843) 272-6934 before visiting.