Return of UMD Students and its Business Impact

DULUTH, Minn.- University of Minnesota Duluth students and teachers kicked off their school year Monday morning, and business is picking up for local shopping centers.

Businesses in the Bluestone and Mount Royal strip malls are excited to see campus life return to normal after many students attended their college classes online last year.

Bulldog Pizza and Grill is one of the places noticing business pick up for them in the past couple of weeks. Co-owner of Bulldog Pizza and Grill says she loves seeing all college students come in and bring the local pizzeria to life.

“It’s great, we are—I mean, we missed people last year,” said the owner of Bulldog Pizza and Grill, Sue Wright. “There were definitely kids still around. Not the usual. We’re looking forward to having them back for late-night specials that we usually do and just a great addition to our local neighborhood business.”

Teachers are also returning as regulars to local shops. Kat’s Eyes Optical sees a business pick up for them around this time each year.

“If the students are there, the teachers are there, and so, of course, the teachers are coming into the city more often or back into the school more often, and therefore they come in to see me more often,” said the owner of Kat’s Eyes Optical Kat Leek.

Local businesses are excited to have more customers and potential employees return to the area.