- January 17, 2026
Uncle Louie G's is an authentic Italian ice shop in Flagler Beach. It has 42 flavors of Italian ice and carries 26 ice cream flavors. Photo by Sierra Williams
Jeannie and Mike Gibbs, co-owners of Uncle Louie G. Photo by Sierra Williams
Uncle Louie G's is an authentic Italian ice shop in Flagler Beach. It has 42 flavors of Italian ice and carries 26 ice cream flavors. Photo by Sierra Williams
Jeannie Gibbs (right) talks to customers at Uncle Louie G's. Photo by Sierra Williams
Jeannie and Mike Gibbs, co-owners of Uncle Louie G. Photo by Sierra Williams
Mike Gibbs and his wife Jeannie have lived in Flagler Beach for 19 years, but both of them still have fond memories of eating Italian ice in their hometown neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City.
That’s why they have opened Uncle Louie G, a franchised Italian ice parlor situated across the street from the new Margaritaville Compass Hotel. Located at 209 S. 2nd St., Unit 2, they opened their doors on Jan. 2, during Flagler Beach’s First Friday event.
While there are other ice cream shops and parlors in Flagler Beach, and Uncle Louie G’s does sell a variety of ice cream flavors, they’re “Italian ice first,” Gibbs said.
“I want to be known as the Italian ice place,” he said.
The community support has been amazing, he said; even the neighboring businesses and ice cream stores have come by to say hello.
Gibbs loves Italian ice, but, he said, he loves even more bringing people back to when they were children, buying sweets with their families. He has fond memories of his own father taking him to their local Brooklyn bakery to buy spumoni Italian ice — a three-flavored ice similar to Neapolitan ice cream, but with pistachio, chocolate and either cherry or vanilla flavors instead.
“Every time someone buys some spumoni, I think of my dad,” he said. Gibbs’ father died just two years ago.
Jeannie Gibbs, too, has remembers walking to the nearest pizzeria to her home in Queens with friends to buy a cup.
“We would get it in a push cup,” she said, “so you would make a mess of yourself. It was just fun.”
The sweet nostalgia is what they both love about their store, and it’s a feeling they want all their customers to experience.
“That's why the logo is, ‘Feel like a kid again,’” Gibbs said. “Because it brings people back when they come in.”
Gibbs is at the shop every day. Open seven days a week from 12- 6 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, the Gibbs have hired four employees to help them at the store. As they move into spring and summer season, they intend to expand their hours.
Jeannie Gibbs said she’s there every chance she gets, outside of her day-job as a medical assistant in an AdventHealth cardiology department.
“This place is our baby,” she said.
Both of them have an obvious passion and love for their Italian ice parlor. Gibbs, a retired New York Police Department patrol officer, lights up as he describes how Italian ice can be called different things or have different textures based on the region.
“I’m passionate about the product,” he said. “I love it, I grew up on Italian ice.”
There’s flavors for everyone to enjoy, Gibbs said — even sugar free, vegan and non-diary flavors. Uncle Louie G’s 42 Italian ice flavors and 26 ice cream flavors are imported from Brooklyn, where the company originated.
The Gibbs’ store is a franchise of the original Uncle Louie G’s in Brooklyn. The Flagler Beach location has access to all the 70-plus Italian ice flavors in New York. The flavors are all unique, Gibbs said, ranging from the traditional lemon Italian ice to their new Dubai chocolate.
Of course, spumoni is available as an Italian ice and an ice cream flavor.
Gibbs said he has really one goal, and that’s for customers to have access to the same flavors and good-quality Italian ice that he and his wife and childhood friends grew up with.
“It's tiring, but I always get happy when I come here. I come in, I open the shop up and see my heritage,” Gibbs said. “It brings us back.”
