Businesses along The Drag struggle when summer comes around and students leave town. Low sales and record-high rents on Guadalupe Street worsen these businesses’ problems along a once lively commercial center next to the University.
Bryan McMurrey, a retail broker for Transwestern Real Estate, has been a leasing agent on The Drag for 22 years. He said base rents increased from almost $30 to $60 triple-net over the past several years. In triple-net leases, tenants pay rent based on the square footage of the property, while maintaining and paying taxes for the space. This means a business owner renting a 2,000-square-foot property at $60 triple-net will pay $120,000 a year. This increase, paired with students leaving multiple times throughout the year for breaks, is challenging for businesses, McMurrey said.
“It’s important for people that lease on The Drag to understand the seasonality of it and to really understand their business,” McMurrey said.
Erick Canales, owner of coffee shop Centro, said he and his wife pay around $50 triple-net for their 1,800-square-foot location. He said sometimes he has just enough money to pay for bills. The summer months are the worst in terms of revenue as foot traffic drops 60% to 70%, he said.
“It’s very hard to survive in this area because of those low seasons,” Canales said. “On the calendar year, you get four very good months and then you get two not so bad months, and then you get some terrible months. That’s how it goes.”
Katherine Key, owner of c.jane, said foot traffic during the school year is more constant, but she is able to retain clientele throughout the summer thanks to a mix of locals and tourists.
“We have a lot of people that travel for vacation or summer weddings,” Key said. “While it’s a little bit quieter as far as foot traffic, our numbers are pretty decent.”
Miles Hutchens, general manager at Dollar Slice Club, said the store’s sales decrease by 50% during the summer. Despite this drop, he said they will soon make up for lost revenue.
“In the summer months, we’re definitely bleeding a little bit, but we know that going into it,” Hutchens said. “We just have to capitalize on football season … and try to make as much money as possible there to cover the bleeding for the summer.”
Along with revenue decreases, there are also staff changes. Hutchens said during this time, the store has fewer employees and doesn’t hire new personnel. Dominic Comello, an employee at Dollar Slice Club, said there is also a cut in hours.
“During the school year, I did get more hours per week, which was nice,” economics junior Comello said. “Now that there’s only three or four employees here … we divvy up the whole week, and not everybody gets full-time hours, which is kind of rough.”
Canales said that he and his wife are currently the sole employees at Centro. They work between 80 to 90 hours a week, and, although it’s difficult, he said they are committed to their business.
“Nobody likes (working) 80 hours a week or more in their business, but it’s also satisfying because this (store) is what we want,” Canales said. “We want to make it work.”
