A college town like Ames poses an interesting business cycle for Campustown.

Every year, come the first week in May, Ames goes through a mass exodus — many students head home or off to internships, and ISU enrollment drops on average over 50 percent, from over 25,000 students to about 9,500.

For some businesses, this means fewer potential customers.

Chris Brennan, sales associate with Campustown Liquor, said while business is still good, summer is definitely a slow time of year.

To adjust, Brennan said the business closes earlier on Thursday nights and isn’t staffed as heavily as it is during the school year. It also has a lower inventory, since it doesn’t turn over as quickly.

“We just don’t have as much [of each item] on stock,” Brennan said.

Other businesses, such as Campustown Property Management, welcome the slowdown of summer as an opportunity.

With leases signed through the end of July, summer doesn’t represent a decrease in revenue for the company.

But summer does allow the company more time to work on its 22 buildings.

“We see tenants in our office a lot less, so it gives us a chance to focus on maintenance,” said Jen Sanford, office manager with Campustown Property Management. “It gives us more time to pay extra attention to the buildings.”

For some businesses in Campustown, the summer isn’t slow at all.

“Really, the summer months are the busiest time of year,” said Julie Harris, market president of US Bank in Story County.

Harris said the Campustown branch does have lulls in activity during the summer, but she said that these pockets of inactivity are made up for by the influx of students and parents coming in for orientation at Iowa State.

“That’s when a lot of new people open checking accounts,” she said.

But however business changes during the summer, it’s a temporary change, and in three short months Campustown will welcome a flood of students back for another two terms.

“We know the summers are slow. We’ve learned over the years to just adjust and deal with it accordingly,” Brennan said.