Poking the bottom line: Students bring traffic to local businesses

“The busiest part of having everyone come back is having to restock,” said Demi Dusenberry, an employee at The Knothole, a downtown store that sells UW gear. “I like talking to students. It makes the day go faster when (they’re) here.”

She said that while the store sees a decent level of traffic from tourists in the summertime, the return of UW students and their families to Laramie makes the school year a much busier time.

Business also has picked up at Dodds Shoe Co. since students returned, said Dodds staffer Jodee Powell. She explained that while things tend to slow down over the summer, they pick up again when students return and people begin their holiday shopping.

The return of students also has helped the business hire more employees, Powell said.

While data for this fall isn’t available yet, in previous years the fall has seen employment rates increase across Albany County, said David Bullard, a Wyoming Department of Workforce Services economist.

While other areas of Wyoming experience a fluctuated employment rate dependent on the oil and gas industries or tourism, the economy is a bit more stable in Albany County because most employees depend on other industries, Bullard said.

Still, the influx of students does have an impact on employment rates, which tend to dip in the summer and increase again when classes resume.

“The college students have definitely helped to fill those gaps in the workforce, but not as much as we’ve hoped,” said Trey Sherwood, executive director for Laramie Main Street Alliance.

Across Wyoming, employment levels have been on the rise as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, but are still far from pre-pandemic levels.

“The story at the statewide level is we lost a lot of jobs in oil and gas, and those have been coming back very slowly, and that’s left a deficit of jobs that we haven’t gotten out of yet,” Bullard said.

In Albany County, the unemployment rate was 2.8% in July, down from last year’s rate of 3.6%, Bullard said. Statewide, the current unemployment rate is 3%.

Whether or not students are turning the tide for the local economy, it’s clear they have a cultural impact on businesses in Laramie.

“It’s good energy,” Sherwood said of having students back. “Laramie’s like this fountain of youth because we always have these young people around. They have new ideas and new expectations.”

For some students who choose to work downtown, that excitement goes both ways.

“I like the energy of being downtown instead of on campus, especially with a locally owned business,” said Garrett Clamage, a UW student who works at Pinebeach Supply Co.

Clamage said that even though he makes less money working downtown than he would at a job on campus, it’s worth it to have a change of scenery that breaks up the day.

His coworker, Mason Masted, added that heading downtown is another way to meet his peers.

“I love working downtown because a lot of students come down,” he said.

Many downtown businesses are taking advantage of that outlook from students and have chosen to schedule grand openings to coincide with the start of the school year. New local businesses include two restaurants and a handful of retail spots, including a book store.

Sherwood said she thought this was a “smart move” for those businesses to become a part of students’ routines as they get established in Laramie.

While people across the community are noticing the impact of students returning, this is just one factor among many impacting the local economy.

“Nationally, we’re kind of at an interesting spot where the federal reserve is raising interest rates and trying to slow down the economy to help bring inflation down,” Bullard said. “It will be interesting to see how that affects us here.”