New ice cream shop opens on Bradenton’s Old Main Street to make ‘the world sweeter’
The opening of Millie’s Sweets & Treats means that ice cream, milk shakes, smoothies and some of Mildred Golden’s home-baked cheese cakes, pound cakes and banana nut breads have arrived on Bradenton’s Old Main Street.
All of the retail spaces in the City Centre Building, 251 12th St. W., are now full with the exception of a space reserved for Orange Blossom Coffee, which is expected to open later this year.
Golden is no stranger to business. She has owned Moten-Golden Insurance agency for four decades and previously owned an ice cream shop in the Bayshore Crossings Plaza near State College of Florida.
She is happy to be in the City Centre building, citing Old Main Street’s safe, comfortable setting and foot traffic across all age groups.
Golden also likes the instant gratification that ice cream offers her customers.
“When people come into your place to buy ice cream, it’s a choice,” she said, noting that in her other line of work — insurance — that’s not always the case.
“It needs to be inviting. The goal is to have customers come in and feel special when they leave,” Golden said.
Her path to the ice cream business started one weekend in a few years ago when her husband, the Rev. James Golden, a member of the Manatee County School Board, had a craving for butter pecan ice cream.
As the were enjoying their ice cream, it dawned on Mildred that she might also be able to dish out happiness to others in her own shop.
Golden offers more than 20 flavors of ice cream. Among the most popular — in addition to perennial favorites chocolate, vanilla and strawberry — are caramel pecan twist, red velvet cake, banana strawberry and coconut pineapple.
A single-dip kids cone sells for $1.49. Favorite kid’s flavors include Superman, Smurf and Cookie Monster.
Millie’s also offers sugar-free ice cream and hard-packed yogurt flavors in its quest to make “the world sweeter one scoop at a time.”
Golden is happy to join to the retail mix in the City Centre building and for the opportunity to give young people jobs.
“We are all trying to make it, plain and simple,” she said of retail on Old Main Street.
“My granddaughter works with me and three school-age girls also work here,” she said.
Kirsten Cinotto, 17, says Millie’s is her first job.
“The business is good, the ice cream is good and the people are good,” Cinotto said.
Millie’s is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-7 p.m. Sunday.
The City Centre building also contains the Manatee Chamber of Commerce offices and a new parking garage. Millie’s neighbors include:
▪ The Stoked Flamingo, a men’s clothing store with a West Coast vibe and a surf element.
▪ Pink and Navy, a womens boutique, offering women’s fashions in small through curvy sizes along with handbags, accessories, gifts and more.
▪ The Beach Shoppe, offering clothing and swimwear, body boards, skim boards, paddle boards, beach chairs and umbrellas and unusual gifts.
▪ Still to open is Orange Blossom Coffee with an in-house baker, selling coffee and beer. Everything in the shop will be from local vendors.
