Students craving MSU Dairy Store ice cream will soon be able to purchase the treat at a new location inside the Union.

Construction of the new store should be completed by the end of September, said Union Manager Jim Sheppard.

On Monday, officials announced changes to the lineup of restaurants scheduled to open in the Union this fall.

Grill 155 and Pete's Arena Pizza had been slated to replace the Little Caesars Pizza and Wendy's, whose contracts ended this year, located in the One Union Square Food Court. But plans have been slightly altered.

Instead of Pete's Arena Pizza, Italian eatery La Vincita will open in its place.

The Blimpie and Beaner's Gourmet Coffee locations in the Union will still remain in the fall.

Grill 155, Pete's Arena Pizza and La Vincita are all concepts of Sodexho food management company, with which Sheppard negotiated a contract for two of the food court's store fronts.

La Vincita simply made more sense to be in that location, Sheppard said, and gave food court patrons a greater assortment of menu options.

"There was space issues, there was counter issues," Sheppard said. "We wanted to go much beyond what we were offering with Little Caesars."

The menu at La Vincita will have a wide variety of Italian dishes, including pizza and pasta, he said.

The change will not affect the construction schedule, Sheppard said. Both Grill 155 and La Vincita are scheduled to open Aug. 15.

Villa Pizza, a New Jersey-based chain, and a fourth Woody's Oasis location will open in the International Center's Crossroads Food Court on the same date. The restaurants will take the place of the Taco Bell and Wendy's locations that were previously in the food court.

When the MSU Dairy Store location opens, it will offer the same menu as the Anthony Hall location, Sheppard said. Limited seating will be available in the store, he said, which is moving into the space next to the MSU Alumni Association, most recently inhabited by Video To Go.

The Video To Go location was an experimental effort that never caught on, Sheppard said.

"Hindsight being 20-20, it was probably that most of your customer base would like a larger selection (of videos)," he said.

He added that competition from other local video rental outlets might have slowed business at Video To Go, which has another location at 300 N. Clippert St. in Lansing.

"The owner felt he was competing with himself," Sheppard said.

He said Dairy Store Manager John Engstrom had approached him with the idea of opening a location in the Union early last fall.

"It's an icon, and we couldn't feel better about the partnership," he said.