Some campus area businesses are dealing with unsold alcohol after a disappointing weekend.
Stores purchased extra alcohol in anticipation of the crowds from the Heritage Festival and the spring game last weekend.
However, businesses saw mixed results with the sales.
“We ordered 50 percent more alcohol than we do for a normal weekend, and all of the extra went unsold. We just had our normal weekend business,” said Duryear Sturdivant, manager of Rick’s Beverages on Olentangy River Road.
The Kroger on Olentangy River Road also did not experience any large increase in alcohol sales over the past weekend.
That particular store is normally busy on weekends, but it saw no significant increase affiliated with the spring game or any other events over the weekend, said Leonard Terranova, from the Kroger public relations office.
Tommy’s Pizza on Lane Avenue was pleased with the results of its ordering of alcohol and its sales over the weekend.
“We ordered double the amount of alcohol that is ordered for a normal weekend. We went through close to all of it, but a little less than expected,” said Amanda Hughes, store manager at Tommy’s Pizza.
Business owners have mixed reactions as to why business was down, and how this will affect their ordering of alcohol in the future.
In past years during the Heritage Festival, at closing time the store would have to be locked and customers were let out one at a time, Sturdivant said.
Sturdivant thought the Heritage Festival crowd was down because of the date when it was scheduled. Students at semester schools were out of school and could come to the Heritage Festival in past years, but this year those students were busy with school related events, Sturdivant said.
“Just the spring game by itself has brought extra business in past years. I think people for the spring game re-routed because of the Heritage Fest crowd,” Sturdivant said.
If the Heritage Festival and spring game are ever scheduled for the same weekend again, the store will not order any extra alcohol, Sturdivant said.
Hughes said the slightly lower than expected business probably occurred because of the construction of the new bridge on Lane Avenue and the Heritage Festival traffic.
Tommy’s Pizza did not see an increase in sales for this Heritage Festival weekend, and it has not seen a significant increase for past Heritage Festival weekends, Hughes said.
Hughes said the spring game was what drew most of the extra business for Tommy’s Pizza over the weekend.
“Anything can affect sales. We would rather have a little extra than run out, and we have seen that happen before,” she said.
