Lincoln students play a pivotal role in sustaining the businesses that surround the campus. From lunch rushes to post-school cravings, the presence and absence of students impact sales of nearby establishments.
For many of these businesses, the lunch hour at Lincoln marks a peak of business activity. Rowan Montague, a team leader at Bellagios Pizza on 18th St. has observed many lunch rushes.
“On the weekdays, business is pretty abundant. Lincoln students are definitely the strongest contributors when it comes to our slice sales,” said Montague. “We’ve had days where there’s a whole line of students buying dollar slices or even full-priced ones.”
The influx of students increases during the midweek.
“Mondays are usually slow, but Wednesday through Friday, we get a big lunch rush,” said Montague.
Rush Bowls, also located on Jefferson, is a smoothie shop that opened this year and sees a similar pattern.
“Lincoln students are probably the majority of our customer base,” said Madi Hanes, a barista at Rush Bowl. “They’ll come here during lunch. That’s when we get our rush, around noon, and then some come after school as well.”
Holidays bring varying levels of activity. Some businesses are affected by the lack of student influx during the breaks. However, for some businesses, holidays bring in the most business. Bellagios gets most of its business around the winter holidays.
“Halloween is by far our busiest day of the year,” said Montague. “This year was especially crazy, but usually before Christmas or big holidays, it gets really busy.”
For Rush Bowls, however, the business relies more on Lincoln students. Hanes commented on the way the business operates when school is out of session.
“A lot of the time it’s kind of bare scales as crew. During winter break, we didn’t have school running, and a lot of the time, they just had the manager, me, and one other person here throughout the day. It hurt a little bit from an hours perspective for some of the employees,” said Hanes.
Employees from the coffee and doughnut shop Blue Star Donuts, located on Jefferson, say Lincoln students don’t have a large effect on sales but do add to the environment in the cafe.
“The student base doesn’t really shop here too much. They are really just here to hang out during lunch and after school,” said Peach Holly, a barista at Blue Star. “Because of this, sales still look pretty good, even during holiday time.”
Students’ collective presence brings energy and revenue to the area, either shaping the operations of surrounding businesses or contributing to the atmosphere in their establishments.
“Lincoln students bring life to this area. Without them, it just wouldn’t be the same,” said Montague.