By Kenneth Books
Duke Higgs loves video games, ice cream and Niceville. It was only natural that the Marine Corp veteran would gravitate toward those loves when he built Honeybee Ice Cream and Arcade across the street from Niceville High School. “I’ve always been into arcades and games and playing with my son,” Duke said. “I decided to merge the two and have a family place for kids and adults to enjoy themselves for a short time. I found a great place near where my son goes to Niceville High School. I wanted to give kids a place like those I grew up in the 80s and 90s.”
The Evansville, Ind., native found a perfect place to stay after he retired in 2015 and “I thought this would be a good place to stay for a while.”
Duke left Evansville at age 18 to begin his Marine Corps career and finished at Eglin Air Force Base.
“I feel great about the time I served and feel great about the future,” he said. “It was one of my greatest accomplishments and I hope that my 23 years in the Marines wouldn’t be my only accomplishment.”
Honeybee Ice Cream and Arcade boasts 32 flavors of five-star Wisconsin ice cream and 17 ice cream roll flavors – ice cream spread out on a cold plate, chopped up and rolled up into a cup, “making it picture-worthy.” It also provides 24 flavors of snow cones and a large selection of fruit sodas and, in addition to the ice cream, will make milkshakes with any of the flavors, as well as sundaes and pizza by the slice.
The arcade is unique to the area as well. “We started with 20 games and now have more than 50 working games and probably another 25 just waiting to be rotated in, fixed up and repaired,” Duke said. “I’m actually more than halfway to opening up a new location,” he said, and is considering Freeport, Santa Rosa Beach, Milton and Crestview.
A great deal of work went into creating Honeybee Ice Cream and Arcade. The existing location, which for many years was a used book store, required significant renovations to create a family-friendly environment.
“I spent a lot of time and money renovating the building, modernizing it into a place where people can walk through the doors and feel very comfortable,” he said. He added new floors, lights, new black lights, and added some retaining walls to make his customers happy and comfortable.
“That’s what it’s all about,” he said.
“It’s not really about the money with me,” Duke said. “I signed a lease and started working on things around September 2019. It was about 18 months before I opened the doors. I took my time to make the building extra nice.”
Duke opened Honeybee Ice Cream and Arcade in July 2021 after a year of Covid. “We were born from adversity,” he said. “The community has come in and they can appreciate the time and effort we put into that place. I think they appreciate our amazing ice cream selection and an affordable place where you can drop in a couple of quarters. I pride myself for being affordable. I’m excited about the opportunity. I’m kind of an achievement addict and I like to strive to accomplish things not only for myself, but for kids and my family. It’s been a great six months since we opened.”
Duke hired several 16- and 17-year-olds as staff and describes them as “some of the most enthusiastic and friendly and happy employees. They’re all capable of making animal balloons. All these separate us from many of the businesses out there. We go the extra mile.”
Honeybee Ice Cream and Arcade is involved with Niceville High School as well. “We have been sponsoring local school sporting functions,” Duke, whose son, Talon, 16, is a sophomore at NHS, said. “We support the community in many ways. We also sponsor Niceville ROTC and look forward to continuing to do so.”
“Business is great,” he said. “The weather’s warming up and we’re doing really well.”
