By Laura Acuff, Student Reporter

Because of decreasing profits, shaved ice vendor and college-student favorite Bahama Bucks on Buffalo Gap Road has been converted into a sandwich shop, Island Hut, which specializes in subs and paninis.

“There’s been some sadness,” said co-owner Joe Thomson. “A lot of people come up still, even though we changed the signs, and think it is still Bahama Bucks. We just didn’t get enough of the college crowd [to maintain business], I guess because all the colleges are across town.”

Thomson said, sales had been dropping for a year and a half before Bahama Buck’s owner Glenn Sims decided to partner with Thomson to transform the snow cone shop into a restaurant.

“It needed more than just shaved ice,” Thomson said. “We decided that we would do a sandwich shop so that in the wintertime it would be profitable.”

Despite its reputation as a favorite among college students, being so far away from the three universities in Abilene likely stymied profits from that demographic, Thomson said. Recently, Island Hut’s customer base has consisted more of families, and the new restaurant sees more customers each day.

“It’s been slow coming,” Thomson said. “We see a growth everyday, everyday a growth.”

Heath Newton, junior Bible major from Round Rock, is a self-proclaimed Bahama Bucks enthusiast who said he ate there at least two to four times a month, was disappointed to find it no longer served snow cones and has not tried the new sandwich shop.

“I was appalled [by the change],” Newton said. “I do like local business, [but] if there were snow cones, I’d be more prone to go back.”

Though Glenn and Thomson currently have no plans to reinstate snow cones as part of their restaurant, Thomson asserted depending on how well their other products sell, they might consider adding shaved ice to the menu eventually.

“We’re just trying to make a business grow,” Thomson said. “We want everybody to come out and try it.”

Island Hut, located at 3910 Buffalo Gap Road, is open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and serves subs and paninis made with the customer’s choice of several breads, meats, cheeses and toppings in addition to breakfast and coffee.