Foothills businesses about to be benefitted by snowbirds after slow summer

CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — It was a slow summer for Banhdicted on Sunrise and Kolb. As he rang up customers at his cash register, the owner Don Vontheung, was appreciative of the customers coming in.

“We are actually pinching pennies in the summertime,” he commented about the past few months.

With a slow summer, that meant he had to make changes to his workers’ schedules.

“We’re doing pretty good, but I had to shuffle employees around from location to location just to meet the hours that they need,” Vontheung said.

With snowbirds coming back soon, he said he’s expecting sales to go back up about seventy percent.

“When they do come back, we could actually open our pocket books a little more,” he said.

With more customers coming in during the fall, winter, and spring, he said that means stocking up on more ingredients soon.

“Our supply doubles, so just to handle all the repeating customers and the snowbirds coming back,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jane Hamilton, the owner of Jane Hamilton Fine Art on Skyline and Campbell, said she also had a slow summer compared to the rest of the year. She’s expecting them to come back next month, and with that, for her sales to go up.

“When the snowbirds come back, there’s people coming in every day all the time,” Hamilton said. “They often come sooner if it’s really cold where they’re from or if it cools off here.”

Snowbirds, she said, bring her sales up double or more compared to the summer.

“We represent 35 artists all the time. We have special shows. Well then they would bring more pieces in,” Hamilton said.

Overall, Foothills business owners said they appreciate any customers who walk through their door.

“We just want people to come and appreciate the beautiful art that’s here in Tucson,” Hamilton said, while Vontheung said, “Without you guys, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and serve the community.”

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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.