Students impact local businesses

By Chelsea Turnbull

Students and businesses

Nov. 7, 2014

Students impact local businesses

Customers line up at Starbucks on Ouellette Ave. on Nov. 7 2014. (photo by Chelsea Turnbull)

As fall returns, and students come back to school, downtown local businesses are benefiting in sales.

Many local businesses downtown have noticed a rise in sales after students returned from their summer break. St. Clair College and University of Windsor students are now filling the streets of downtown, ready to eat and shop.

One of the businesses having seen a sudden change in sales, is Starbucks. Matt Pilgrim, an employee at Starbucks for the past four years, said they recently renovated to make the building more presentable to customers.

“We have hip music and we renovated, so we opened up all the bars and windows so that we could have more open space,” said Pilgrim. “We also have plugs under all the tables, so students can plug in their laptops and chargers.”

Another local business that benefits from students is Rogues Gallery Comics. Since the store is a privately run business, owned by Shawn Cousineau, said that students have had a big impact on making his store well known.

“I’ve been in the restaurant business my whole life, so when I opened this joint, I opened it kind of like a bar, but instead of having booze, I have comic books. It’s kind of a social center, where you can come talk comics,” said Cousineau. “We have 312 active file members, so we do okay in that respect. It’s all about social networking, you be nice to people, it gets online and from there, you live or die from what people say.”

Although these businesses have benefitted from students in a positive way, Neviana Nedeltchev, owner of Carrots n’ Dates, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant that has been open for a year, has found a small reaction from the school year.
“I feel as though we don’t have as many students, as we would love to have,” said Nedeltchev. “I find the reason we are slower in the summer is because we have healthier options, and people have their own farms with vegetables, and farmers markets.”

 

With the upcoming opening of the new University of Windsor building downtown, businesses are showing more appreciation for the increase in student population, which will benefit their sales for years to come.