Hamden businesses are welcoming back college students after they didn’t return to the QU campus after spring break as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the region.
Gino Aydogdu, co-owner of Tonino’s Pizza on Whitney Avenue, said that he was not prepared with how quickly things changed.
“It was pretty sudden,” he said. “(Students) left for spring break and they never came back and I was shocked to hear that students are not coming back for the rest of the semester.”
Aydogdu credits strong local support during the pandemic for getting them through the five-month absence of students, but says that students have always been the main driver of profit for his business.
“I can say already our business is up after only one week,” Aydogdu said. “I would say (business is up) 30 percent. And students, I think they are not a hundred percent back.”
Another student favorite, Spuds Your Way, took a hit to both the store part of their business and the food truck part. Owner Jared Cohen said that he has started getting business with other universities, but not yet Quinnipiac.
“We do a lot of events on campus, so all of our events on campus got canceled along with all of our contracted gigs around graduation and senior week,” Cohen said.
Spuds Your Way is relatively new as a storefront. Cohen said that the store recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and that his efforts now are focused on increasing awareness to students about his business.
“I think as the semester goes on and we’re able to get more menus out to let the students know that, you know, we’re here, it’ll continue to build,” he said.
Other business owners are worried that Quinnipiac’s caution will keep students away. Dante Anastacio, the assistant general manager of Thyme and Season, said that he and his coworkers are trying to find information about how Quinnipiac is feeding students so they can improve marketing.
“Even though students are coming back, the return is usually stronger,” Anastacio said. “I think people are still hesitant.”
Anastacio said that Thyme and Season is doing online orders with curbside pick up and delivery and hope that students looking for a gluten-free or allergen-free meal start reaching out soon.
“A lot of people in the area that shop here made up for (the losses) by doing curbside pickup,” Anastacio said. “But we definitely see, especially around now, we’re seeing things that are different than normal.”