Partly Cloudy / 91° F
Marion stores prepare for students
Published 9:24pm Thursday, July 29, 2010 Updated 9:56pm Thursday, July 29, 2010MARION — Students are almost ready to begin school, and for Marion businesses that is good news.
Next week students from Marion Military Institute and Judson College will begin to trickle in to the city in preparation for the new school year.
“Judson and MMI really add a lot to our community,” said Bradford Sturgis, owner of the College City Drugs. “We begin to notice a big increase in business in August. You notice it when the students start coming back.”
Perry County Chamber of Commerce director John Martin said the students make a big impact on the community.
“I don’t have the exact figures,” said Martin. “But I would say the discretionary fund use is increased somewhere between 10 and 15 percent when the schools are in operation. What I mean by that is people going to eat at night and buying other discretionary things.”
Freshmen and their parents will file in to Judson on Aug. 5 for orientation, marking the start of a prosperous nine months.
“All of the schools make a big impact,” said Gene Harris, owner of Nathan Harris’ Sons, a clothing boutique in Marion. “They bring in faculties, students and even their parents. School starting, all the way around, picks up traffic from everywhere.”
Harris said he had less business from the colleges than he does from the local school system.
“We don’t get much business form the boys at MMI,” said Harris. “Since they wear uniforms all of the time, they don’t really come here, but this is the third year the county schools have had uniforms. I think the parents like it. It really helps our business to be able to sell it.”
Both business owners said they were looking forward to the tax-free weekend Aug 6-8.
“No sales tax is next weekend and it really helps us,” said Harris. “People seem to wait until that weekend before they make their purchases, and it makes sense. Why buy today when you can wait a week and save 9 percent. It makes a big impact, not just here, but across Alabama.”
