Like Ohio University’s campus, local Athens businesses experience a significant contrast in customers, staff and hours of operation between the two seasons. For some, a slow-paced summer is a perfect way to prepare for the annual rush of students and faculty returning to campus. For others, the thrill of a packed shop is what keeps the job interesting.
Ben Ziff, a manager at Donkey Coffee and Espresso, said that this past fall was the busiest the business has ever been. Although some may be daunted by the number of customers waiting for their specialty drinks (sometimes a line to the door for eight hours straight, he said), Ziff enjoys the thrill of it.
“I love when we get that busy,” Ziff said. “It’s more fun to work when it’s busy. When you’re slow you’re just standing there not doing anything. When you’re busy it’s more exciting.”
Thanks to the customer traffic, OU students kept Donkey workers on their toes. During the summer, although still an Athens favorite, business slowed down considerably. Ziff said summer business is nearly half of what it is during the school year.
Alexandra Kamody, the director of the Athena Cinema, agrees with Ziff and faces the same difference at the movie theater over the summer: less business.
“It’s just lower foot traffic with the student population,” Kamody said.
Although the student population may be lacking, the local Athens population now has the opportunity to take the front seat. Certain elements of the uptown experience change, attracting the older and younger populations of the city.
“When the students aren’t here, the parking is more accessible and it’s not so busy uptown so we do see more community members, more regulars and more families and kids coming uptown,” Kamody said.
While Ziff and Kamody said the largest difference between the summer and the school year was the number of customers, J Miller, the general manager of Whit’s Frozen Custard on Court Street, said the most notable contrast was the number of employees able to work.
“The biggest adjustment is employees,” Miller said. “Everything changes, it changes gears from one day to the next – it’s a completely different system.”
When there is a surplus of students, many local businesses rely heavily on that population to keep things up and running. Once that population goes elsewhere, the establishment loses a key pillar.
“A lot of my employees will leave for the summer and come back for school, some will stick around, I might have to hire some,” Miller said. “It’s all about employees. College student employees are the biggest adjustment.”
The Athena Cinema also loses a lot of its staff over the summer and adjusts accordingly.
“We do have a lot of student staff, so we just have a lot fewer staff in house, but people are working more hours,” Kamody said. “So we have fewer staff but people work more hours than they do during the school year.”
Miller operates under a similar principle.
“You gotta stay flexible, I adjust to whatever is going on at the moment,” Miller said.
There are pros and cons to operating a business in a college town where the population changes annually. Nevertheless, Athens business owners adhere to the transitions and enjoy the quieter nature of Athens while they can.
“As a person, I enjoy not having things be as busy, but I think as a theater operator we enjoy the business of the school year,” Kamody said. “We enjoy seeing new students and meeting new students and the whole other community that that brings in. There’s positives to both sides.”