Foothills businesses seeing dramatic drop in customers during the summer

Since last month, Tyler Moody has been noticing fewer people coming through the doors of Fini’s Landing at Sunrise and Swan.

“You scrape by through the summer. You’re not really making too much money,” Moody, the general manager, said.

The restaurant has been open for more than 13 years and every summer is slow, but they're expecting next month to be their slowest of the year.

“July is pretty slow. Everyone’s out of town for Fourth of July,” Moody said.

To get through the month, he said in July they do a special on gift cards. For every $100 customers buy in gift cards, people get $20 back. It helps, Moody said, because people don’t tend to spend the money right away.

“We get some cash up front to get through the summer and people aren’t necessarily spending it at that time,” he said.

To get through the summer, he also said it’s important to manage their money well.

“You’ve just got to be smart. You got to spend less on what you’re buying and you’re not going to be selling as much, so you’ve got to be smart with inventory. Hopefully you’ve been on top of your air conditioning and stuff like that,” Moody said.

Graeme Hughes, the executive vice president of Visit Tucson, said Foothills businesses should get a boost in customers because of staycation packages people take adverting of during the summer.

“A lot of the staycation packages that are being offered by Foothills resorts result in those guests going out into the neighboring communities for restaurants, attractions,” Hughes said.

To help more than 50 businesses in Downtown, Main Gate Square, and Historic Fourth Avenue, Visit Tucson partnered with local businesses to promote their Summer Streetcar Savings pass. The pass gives people discounts or special deals at participating businesses until September 1.

“It just brings awareness to everything that’s going on in the downtown core,” Hughes said.

In peak season in February, Visit Tucson said the short term rental occupancy was about 77%, and in May it went down to about 57%.

That’s why Moody said it’s important to support local businesses during the summer.

“It doesn’t have to be us. Just support local and it all goes back into our economy, so wherever it is, is awesome,” he said.

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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.