According to the United States Census Bureau, Muncie’s 2014 population was 70,211, which included the enrollment of 20,655 Ball State students.
When Ball State students head home for summer, businesses in the Village feel the effects of their absence. With thousands of fewer customers, some business owners said it was necessary to make adjustments during the summer months.
In 2015 there were 21,196 Ball State students, and Let’s Spoon Muncie opened in the Village. Owner Trake Carpenter said during his first summer in the Village last year, there was a huge difference in his business’s traffic, but events such as Orientation and summer sports camps helped to make up for the decrease in customers.
“Sales were down considerably and much more sporadic than when BSU is in session,” Carpenter said. “The summer is the most challenging part of the year because 15,000 customers within a couple miles of the Village leave all at once. It's a very abrupt change ... and takes a lot of adjustment from inventory, to payroll, to hours, etc.”
To adapt to this change, Carpenter closes earlier because he said he knows regular traffic will not come in as late in the summer as student traffic does during the rest of the year.
Since this is his second summer, he now has a better idea of what hours his business should be open and hopes to do cross-promotion with local businesses as well as direct marketing to Ball State summer camps, churches and Muncie visitors.
Travis Harvey has owned and operated Village Green Records for the past nine summers and said he does not change his hours. Clientele has been poor recently, but he said summer classes, conventions and symposiums hosted in Muncie will offset the effect of recent weeks.
“Summers in general do slow down a lot,” Harvey said. “Right now, there’s just no one to even come in. … There’s [a] very few selection of people around, but I try to promote different ways and try to get the word out, especially with the internet.”
Harvey uses Facebook and Instagram and also tries to remind customers that he can ship records to them. He said it is harder to operate the store in the summer because he has to be a lot more conscious of his spending, knowing his sales will not be as strong. The store will continue to have concerts, some of which will be outside.
“There’s still sales happening, of course, but it’s a little bit different," Harvey said. "Especially with the nice weather, people begin to come in [because] they’re walking around. But the summertime also allows me to do other things. … I have a lot more freedom to paint and do other projects and try to clean up the shop a little bit.”
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