Viral videos and influencers help Cherry Smash ice cream see busiest season ever

The line to order at Cherry Smash one weekend stretched hundreds of feet outside the door and down the block as patrons waited to get ice cream surrounded by fake skeletons, werewolves and grim-reaper figurines that you might find in a haunted house.

It’s been the busiest season ever for the Coral Springs ice cream parlor, located at 8000 Wiles Road, that’s been around for over a decade — and they attribute this year’s popularity in large part to social media.

“I’ve watched it take this business to a whole other level,” said 18-year-old Audrey Brooks, the store manager. “I don’t think it would have been possible. Of course, we would have expanded and expanded, but social media played a ginormous role in the whole thing.”

One video by the Broward Scene on Instagram, which gives recommendations for things to do in Broward and Fort Lauderdale, racked up over 170,000 views at the end of September. And a 16-second video by Cherry Smash’s new TikTok account pulled in over 600,000 views.

“We’re lucky enough to meet a lot of really cool influencers, have a lot of people come to the store, and it’s definitely really helped to expand our reach of who’s seeing the videos and everything,” Brooks said.

While Brooks said word of mouth remains part of why people come to Cherry Smash in the first place, she attributes a major part of this season’s influx to the store’s own deliberate social media marketing.

She estimated on a busy night, when staff asks customers what brought them to the shop, 80% will say social media.

“From the end of Christmas last year to the season this year, we focused a lot on building our social media,” Brooks said. “All the girls, especially, we’re all between like 16 and 25, so we all know what we’re doing with it.”

While one of the owners, a Vietnam War veteran, doesn’t know much about Instagram, he’s been shocked by how many customers are coming in this year.

“He is absolutely in awe,” Brooks said. “Again, he’s 83, so he walks out the back door, the line was down the street, and he came back in, like, ‘All those people are waiting to come inside?’”

The shop has been featured in dozens of posts on Instagram advertising the spookiest ice cream shop in South Florida, spooky date night ideas, the best place to visit in Coral Springs this fall and the “coolest ice ‘scream’ shop.”

One TikTok video that has nearly 60,000 views called Cherry Smash “literally the coolest ice cream parlor in the world.”

“We’ve had people tell us they come even as much as three hours (away),” Brooks said. “We have people tell us they get an Airbnb just to come see it all. It literally feels like a tourist attraction. And for me, I’ve lived here my whole life, so it’s crazy.”

Outside, shrouded skeletons and winged goblins stand on the awning, while antique automobiles are decked out in lights and skeletal heads and hands. Inside, there are too many Halloween decorations to take in. Jack Skellingtons, witches, creepy clowns, pirate skeletons and glowing-eyed werewolves are among the many, many decorations.

But in the comments section of a 430,000-view video by well-known South Florida influencer PeakACity, some social media users complained they didn’t want Cherry Smash lines to get any longer or have social media blow up their favorite spot.

Brooks said they welcome the patronage but pay extra attention to their regulars.

“We love how busy it is. But of course, we have our regulars who are like, ‘I’ve been coming here every week,’” she said. “So we try to really value those customers, because those are the people who keep us running all year.”

Tulio Viera said he tried to stop by with his family over the weekend, but when they saw the line, they decided to try again another time. They ended up coming in on Tuesday, Oct. 21, when they drove by and didn’t see a line out the door.

“I love how they do all the decorations,” he said. “It’s very big this year. It’s crazy.”

He called over his young daughter, Maria, who was eating an ice cream cone. She said she was scared of the pumpkin-headed figure that popped up, but she didn’t think the decor was too scary.

Many customers pull out their phones to snap a picture of the decor or get a photo of their kids with their ice cream and the ghouls in the background.

Outside the holiday season, the store is already primed for a photo op, with funky lights, a fun-house style mirror, Zoltar the animatronic fortune-teller, a ceiling covered in photos and posters, and more.

Anthony Sileo, who always orders the brownie sundae, said he’s visited the store when it goes all out for Christmas. He stopped by Oct. 21 with his son and his son’s girlfriend visiting from out of town.

“It’s totally over the top, in a good way,” Sileo said. “This tops Christmas.”

The shop will transition into Christmas and winter decor Nov. 2, and is anticipating having to hire more hands to help out then.

“The way that Christmas is, especially in Florida, around here, there’s nowhere that feels like this,” Brooks said. “We hope that we can make it even bigger than Halloween.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 3:08 PM.