By Daniel Johnson, Sports Editor

ACU students who want customized homemade ice cream will have to travel across town to Cold Stone Creamery as the fate of competitor Third Rock Creamery remains unknown.

The space-themed ice cream parlor and coffee shop on Judge Ely Boulevard closed its doors in November after a decline in business.

“Everyone just stopped coming in,” said former day manager, Doug Clement.

Third Rock opened in November 2005 and despite an initial jump of constant business, Clement said the profits and number of regular customers kept reducing as the year went on.

“I sat there and watched it go down,” Clement said. “I was doing the bank deposits and they just kept getting smaller and smaller.”

For now, Third Rock’s doors, which opened to long lines of college students, are closed with a sign that reads: “Third Rock Creamery will be closed for re-location.”

Clement said owner Rob Lord has not contacted him on the specifics of Third Rock’s relocation.

Lord, a resident of Houston and graduate of Hardin Simmons University, was unavailable for comment.

Clement said he was surprised Lord decided to close the parlor suddenly and expected the business to be around for a while.

“I was expecting the place to be booming like it was,” Clement said. “I didn’t realize [Lord] would call me out of the blue and tell me to shut down.”

According to the small business advice Web site, www.allbusiness.com, half of all small businesses fail within the first four years.

The local ice cream parlor lasted a little more than one year.

Former night manager, Zach Smith, said he thought the business failed because tried to do too much.

“My guess is it was spread too thin,” Smith said. “We tried to be a ice cream parlor/coffee shop/serving bagels and cold drinks.”

Smith said because customers rarely bought most items on the menu, numerous expensive machines were never used.

Smith said if the business focused on only making ice cream it would have cut costs dramatically and kept the business afloat.

Nathan Hathorn, sophomore business management major from Abilene, said he rarely went to Third Rock because it was too expensive for his budget. Hathorn did not think the quality of the ice cream was worth the price they charged.

Although Lord eventually plans to relocate Third Rock, Smith is not convinced of the business’ future in Abilene.

“I think it’s done for good,” Smith said.