Ice cream parlors around Polk County and upstate South Carolina have seen an increase in sales and customers as the summer heat continues to rise.

Lisa Duck, owner of the Duck Alley gift shop in Saluda, has an ice cream parlor on the left side of the store as visitors walk through the front door. She said she added the ice cream bar due to the slumping economy six years ago.

“July is typically the busiest month of the season when it comes to ice cream,” Duck said. “The salty caramel truffle is a new trend, and the kids love the birthday cake and cotton candy flavors. After the season ends, I don’t have as many flavors on sale.”

Duck added the brand recognition of Hershey’s ice cream out of Pennsylvania also brings in customers.

“We have a lot of good flavors to offer, and I think that’s the key thing with the quality of these ice creams,” Duck explained. “We’re fortunate to have it, it’s good for business. The ice cream shop has been here for five or six years, and the slumping economy brought it about to keep people coming in.”

Ken Busch is the owner of Scoops N’ More in Columbus and said he has had a good season overall, but added that the ice cream business does not just see high volumes of customers during the summer.

“It could be January on a clear, warm day and I could have customers coming in a lot,” Busch said. “I don’t know if it’s been better this year than any other year. If you have a cloudy day that might bring rain there aren’t a lot of customers. But I’m also seeing a lot of families coming in with a lot of kids.”

Scoops N’ More also carries Hershey’s ice cream, and Busch said he carries this brand because he believes people come looking for it.

“It’s a premium ice cream brand,” Busch said. “You have to have your vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors for banana splits, and butter pecan has been a popular favorite. We also have no sugar and no milk products, too.”

Southern Delights owner Linda Fitzgerald-Howard commented on her ice cream sales, saying ice cream season is in full swing at her business. Southern Delights in located in downtown Landrum.

“It’s definitely ice cream season,” Fitzgerald-Howard said, adding that in addition to ice cream her customers are ordering banana splits and milkshakes.

“Business has definitely increased because people tend to come in when they’re trying to cool off,” she said.

Popular flavors at Southern Delights include salty caramel truffle, peach, coffee and the crazy colors ice creams. Southern Delights carries the Blue Bell brand of ice cream and has a sign designed like an ice cream cone with the Blue Bell logo hanging outside the shop.

“The kids love the crazy colors ice cream and it has reds, blues and yellows and their faces are all colorful as they eat it too,” Fitzgerald-Howard said. “We even have a new dinosaur outside and the kids can take their pictures with him too.”

Fitzgerald-Howard said when it comes to the banana splits, she has been having a hard time keeping bananas for long.

“It’s three scoops of ice cream, a banana and whipped cream with nuts,” Fitzgerald-Howard said. “People come in to share them and then some people come to get their own because they don’t want to share.”