NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) -
It's easy to see. North Street has been
pretty quiet this week because Stephen F. Austin State University is closed for
winter break, and classes won't resume until January. Some local business
owners are finding their businesses to be pretty quiet, too.
"Well, the students are a big part of
our business and also the professors. So, whenever they would leave town it
definitely is a drought we see," Aaron Montes, the owner of The Barn, said. "Probably
a 30 to 40 percent decrease during these times of year."
Other
business owners are changing their game plan to keep sales up.
"I think that some businesses really
cater the college and so those businesses definitely the waiters and all the
staff they dwindle down," Maury Littleton, the owner of Party n' Things, said. "We
cater to the college especially in the fall and a lot of parties are going on
so we gear up for that; we change our hours towards the college. When the
college leaves we change our hours to meet the community needs, so right now
you know we don't have to stay open until ten or eleven at night because we
don't have college parties coming in."
Littleton,
has owned a party store in Nacogdoches for 25 years and understands how things work this time of year in a college
town.
"I think as a business what you have to do
is you have to see it as two different businesses; your college business and
your everyday business," Littleton said.
And
that's exactly what Chilly Fillmore's is doing.
"We definitely get to see more of Nacogdoches as a community
instead of sfa as a college, which is what we're all about is about being here
for a Nacogdoches store not just an sfa store," Erin Bure, the manager of
Chilly Fillmore's, said. "You get to see different communities come out and
different people."
All of the businesses are trying to be
successful this season. They say the best way is to find your niches for
college customers and for the community.
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