Columbia businesses see uptick in traffic as students return

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

With the return of students to campus this past weekend, some Columbia businesses have already seen an increase in traffic.

Matt Jenne, owner of Addison's and Sophia's, said there were noticeably more people at his restaurants this past weekend.

"With the doors being opened back up and parents bringing their kids back, one of the things that we've seen at the restaurant is that those parents want to have a meal with their kids so they've been coming into the restaurants and enjoying themselves before they send their kids off to school for the second semester," Jenne said.

The University of Missouri calendar said the first day of second semester classes starts on Tuesday.

Jenne said that they're excited to have students coming back into town and have an increase in business.

"Students are the lifeblood of our community and the college is certainly our biggest employer and kind of biggest industry, so, it's always great to have students back," Jenne said.

Jenne's restaurants have put safety measures into place including social distancing and restricted hours to make sure people going out to eat can do so safely.

Varsity Clips and Varsity Nails in downtown Columbia say they are checking temperatures, using plexiglass partitions, increasing handwashing and requiring masks.

Paul Rubenstein, Co-Owner of Varsity Clips and Varsity Nails, said both businesses were "Totally packed."

Rubenstein said although it seems like students have been coming back slower this year, he has seen an uptick in business. However, he says the businesses don't solely rely on students to survive.

"The good thing about our business is that we are not totally dependent on students," Rubenstein said.

With the addition of students returning to school Rubenstein said it will impact the businesses in a positive way and it will take about two weeks to see a sizeable uptick in business after the students have gotten settled with their classes.