With the last week of school around the corner, students can breathe a sigh of relief once the fall term officially comes to a close on Friday. However, the same cannot be said for some local businesses near the University that rely on student traffic to support them.
Although some businesses are either closing for the upcoming holiday season or cutting back store hours to compensate for the loss of customer flow, others remain optimistic and are beginning to rely on the local community to support their businesses during the month-long respite — a practice that has been successful in the past.
“A lot of the kids from out of town want to go home, so that usually leaves a lot of the locals around here to just hang out,” said Michael McKern, a Sy’s Pizza employee, as he waited at the register for customers to arrive. “It’s a calmer and more subdued atmosphere around campus.”
Although McKern estimated that the location on Alder Street typically experiences about a 15 percent loss in revenue due to the loss of students, he said the store will keep its normal store hours to support the store’s regular customers from the community.
Although the decrease in student traffic is a typical symptom among many businesses, The Duck Store on East 13th Avenue is expected to see a continuous flow of traffic that can be attributed to one specific event: the Rose Bowl. As a result, the store will not only retain its normal business hours during the winter break but will actually add extra employees.
“When we’re looking at an event like the Rose Bowl, it is an incredibly busy time for us,” said Stacy Miller,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Stacy+Miller@@ a Duck Store supervisor. “We get a lot of business from the community — they are usually aware that it’s a lot better to shop here during the winter break because there will be less competition for parking. For us, it’s just business as usual. We just see less students.”
Other businesses are seeing the University’s winter break as an opportune time to showcase their wares by using special deals and events to bring in customers. Joey Morales, the general manager of Taylor’s Bar and Grille, said the bar will remain open during the holiday season to not only remind customers of their presence, but also to encourage the local community to take advantage of the welcoming atmosphere offered during academic break.
“The great thing about Taylor’s is that it’s so established — people know this place,” Morales said. “For students (who) don’t go home and their parents come into town, they want to show them where they go to hang out and have great food and drinks. It’s pretty unique for them to show that aspect of student life when it’s not crazy packed.”
Campus-area businesses rely on local support as students depart
Daily Emerald
December 3, 2011
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