Dartmouth students represent a significant market for local merchants, from boutiques to restaurants to convenience stores. As the majority of matriculated students are currently spending their summers in locations outside the Upper Valley, Hanover enterprises experience unique business patterns and find themselves alternatively capitalizing on the influx of vacationers.
During the fall, winter and spring, approximately 4,000 students take classes on campus. In the summer, enrollment numbers less than 1,200.
Stinson's convenience store owner Jack Stinson said his clientele is largely comprised of Dartmouth students, and the decrease in College students during the summer has a negative impact on his business.
"Take 3,000 to 4,000 students out of the town, does my business decrease? Absolutely," he said.
As a result of decreased business, Stinson is forced to release his part-time employees. However, Stinson said the store still maintains the same hours of operation and has to keep up with paper work and other tasks.
"With the overhead downtown, you have to trim back and work just as hard," he said.
Juliana's boutique store manager Susana Guajardo '04 believes the majority of the store's clientele is comprised of Dartmouth students, and that the loss of students in the summer contributes to the downturn in business.
However, Guajardo commented that although there are fewer students, the mix of customers shifts as a result of upsurge in visitors to Hanover.
"Some of that loss is compensated by people who have summer homes, people who are in camps and people who visit," she said.
In addition to vacationers to the Upper Valley, the admissions office receives approximately 100 visitors per day touring the College.
While there may not be as many student customers in town, certain Dartmouth students said they have been patronizing Hanover businesses more often this term.
Rachel Karpf '07 visits the Co-op food store three times as much as in previous terms, since on-campus dining is more limited in its hours of operation during the Summer term.
"I don't have as many options with DDS this term, and I don't always have food available at the times I want," Karpf said. "So, it's more convenient for me to go off campus."
Although local businesses currently only have to respond to summer residents, the Hanover Chamber of Commerce and Dartmouth students recently engaged in a conversation on how to improve town-gown relations year-round.
Alexandra Galasso '07, who participated in the dialogue, said the two groups discussed issues ranging from hours of operation to outdoor public spaces available to residents. She believes the meeting initiated a dialogue between students and local business owners that will prove useful.
"I think that downtown Hanover is surprisingly varied and has a lot to offer," Galasso said. "If we can optimize that it would be great."
Galasso commented that the Hanover Chamber of Commerce was highly receptive to students' suggestions.
Chamber of Commerce President Clint Bean said the meeting was part of a downtown marketing strategy and that the Dartmouth student community comprises a significant target of the strategy.
Hanover Improvement Society general manager Tom Byrne '55 attended the meeting and said he believes it raised issues important to both students and merchants.
"There had been some rumors that some students felt they weren't welcomed, and we wanted to get to the bottom of that because they certainly are welcome," he said.
Byrne believes that while Hanover may not be able to compare to the urban environments from which many students come, downtown still has a lot to offer. "The college needs to have a vibrant downtown to attract faculty, staff and students," he said.
Byrne is also owner of the Nugget Theatre, but said he doesn't see the decrease in students as having a negative impact on his business -- since the majority of his customers are not Dartmouth students.
In fact, Byrne said his business sees a surge in the summer.
"The attendance in general is better during the summer because better films are released, and we get high school students and families on vacation," he said.
