Spinning on red stools while eating a bowl of 21 scoops of ice cream may not be a an option for incoming freshmen this year — at least not at The Parlour On Campus. The eatery, offering ice cream, burgers and pizza, closed on July 4 as a result of dwindling business since it came to East Lansing two years ago.

Morris Huntley, president of DeForest Hospitality Group — the company that owns The Parlour On Campus, 321 E. Grand River Ave., and five other restaurants in Michigan — said the restaurant struggled to attract families because there was no free parking.

"We made a real estate mistake putting an ice cream parlour where there was no parking," Huntley said.

The company has been looking for other areas along Grand River Avenue to open another restaurant, Huntley said, possibly between the Meridian Mall and campus. Though students frequented the eatery during the school year, he said weekends and breaks were usually slow.

"Holidays crippled our business because we didn't have the family trade to fall back on," he said.

The company started looking for a new tenant in February with no luck and hoped to boost business during the city's summer events. Business, however, didn't pick up and Huntley said he decided to close in the summer rather than waiting for students to return.

"Probably the biggest shock and disappointment is the foot traffic on Grand River is not what it used to be," Huntley said.

The number of eateries on campus has also noticeably increased, he said, so students are less likely to trek toward Grand River Avenue after class to eat. During the third month it was open, Huntley said the company questioned whether or not it should change locations.

"It was never a drain on the company," he said. "It just didn't produce (and) didn't make any more money."

The Parlour On Campus was the company's second ice cream endeavor, after The Parlour Jackson, 1401 Daniel St. in Jackson, which was built in 1944. Another parlour location was built one mile from Western Michigan University in September and is successful, despite its location next to campus, because of abundant parking, Huntley said

The parlour's neighbor, Silver Streak, 317 E. Grand River Ave., is also affected by the absence of students.

Store manager Matt Rouhan said the store relies on sidewalk sales and festivals to bring in business during the summer, but he thinks the lack of business is mostly caused by the Michigan economy.

"It's an ongoing trend," Rouhan said. "That's why living in a college town, businesses need to open based on a niche market or you probably won't survive."

Melting Moments, 313 E. Grand River Ave., has survived downtown for 22 years and plans to continue its legacy, said owner Mark Geovjian.

Business is fine, Geovjian said, because the homemade ice cream attracts plenty of residents in the summer.