Life is full of nuances and small ways to get the best things possible.  The saying and ideas that the little dive shops are sometimes the best in the town are many times true.  I would imagine that the same goes for ice cream as well. 

At least in my local towns that I have lived in it was always the small place that never seemed to close down that was the most popular.  Back in my past I can attribute this to brand loyalty and also to astounding service.  The service I always received at those places was what always won me over. The first place was called Frosty Boy

Frosty Boy was a small shop located in the country.  The town was so small you could drive through it in 2 minutes and it mostly was frequented by individuals needing gas.  But there was a small store in the middle of the town that drew more people than gas on most summer nights and that was Frosty Boy.  They sold some of the best ice cream in the State.  The reason why was because they offered the best flavors of all the candy boxes imaginable.  They would literally take the candy boxes of all your favorite brands and line the windows of where you ordered with them.

  That away you could point to and pick which flavor you wanted in your ice cream.  The best part was each size was always twice as big as the competitors size.  If it was a cone a small was a medium and a medium was the equivalent of the competitors large.  The large sizes were super size and were almost always way too much.  But the best part was that they did all this with the most competitive prices in the State.  I image that they had a really good supplier and with all the foot traffic that they brought in they were able to survive very well and be profitable but wow was it impressive.

The next best place is located in my current town and they are smack dab in the middle of the city. They are a walk up ice cream shop and are open year round.  What sets them apart is that they seem to have the best flavors of any other ice cream shop I have had to date.  The flavors are all custom and each one is unique. All I can say is that the hidden gems are simply that. Gems!