Businesses Near MSU Struggle During Summer Months

(Springfield, MO) -- School's almost out for summer.  There's a lot of smiles outside the MSU dorms, but KOLR/KSFX found some other people who weren't smiling about this mass exodus.

Some area businesses say half of their business comes from the students. When students take off, businesses says their sales are less than soaring.

"Tt's been a hectic week," says Nathan Rogers, a MSU Freshman.

As the cars get packed, some like Andrea Cudworth can't resist grabbing up their favorite grub from Cheezie's before getting out of town.

"We love to call here all the time and by the time we walk from campus, it is already," explains Cudworth.  

But the businesses are losing their fans to summer fun.

"It slows down quite a bit. I mean when you have a quarter of the town's population leaving here, it's going to slow down," explains Duane Young, Manager of Cheezie's.

Young says the company must factor in the summer months before the year even starts.

"Our owner is used to it.  We know the cycles, so he plans for it and sets aside. I'm sure he budgets properly for months," adds Young.

Across the street, Planet Sub is also planning to roll out less lunches.

"All and all, business has dropped 10 percent across the board.  That is what we are looking for the year. With summertime that is usually another 25 percent.  So it's going to be a crunch and I am going to spending a lot of time alone here," adds Damian Shaw, Manager at Planet Sub.  

Shaw says the company tries to focus on catering to the business community.

"Hours are decreasing.  My inventory, I'm am estimating what I will need, but it's a lot less than it was," adds Shaw.

Scaling back and already counting the days until students return. But not all businesses are sad.  The Subway near Missouri State says it's still confident this year's summer school crowd will keep the sales up.