Summer in Ames seems to cause a mass exodus of students rushing to their new jobs, internships or parents’ couches. The withdrawal of nearly 50 percent of the Ames population causes some obstacles for local businesses.

The most severe loss appears to occur in Campustown, where the high-traffic of undergraduates going to and from the dorms provides a steady flow of business during the school year.

Joe Carter, owner of three We Care Hair salons in Ames, said there is a big decrease in summer business at his Welch Avenue location, while his West Ames and downtown Ames salons suffer only minimal decreases.

“We rely heavily on student business at our Campustown location, so we see about a 40-percent reduction in business there, and only about a 5 to 10 percent reduction at the other two locations,” he said.

In order to survive the summer crunch, businesses need to accommodate changes.

Whether it be limiting hours and staff or changing marketing techniques, each individual business adjusts accordingly to stay profitable and await the coming school year.

“We don’t necessarily lay off staff or cut back the amount of help; we just have to schedule differently,” Carter said. “While we may need three or four stylists at our Campustown location in April, we might only need two on hand in the summer.”

Another Campustown business that faces the reduction in business during the summer is CopyWorks, 105 Welch Ave.

John Crawford, general manager of CopyWorks, said most of the school year’s business is students during late-night traffic and before and after school hours.

With the loss of some of the student base, he said a different type of customer takes over in the summer.

“When students leave, the business community of Ames does more work through us,” he said.

“They recognize that CopyWorks can accommodate their needs better in the summer.”

Crawford said CopyWorks must change its marketing campaign in the summer in order to reach the business community better.

“We market different in the late spring and summer toward non-student radio stations and publications,” Crawford said.

While some business owners dread the arrival of summer, others are looking forward to the challenge.

Andy White, owner of Sips and Paddy’s Irish Pub, both located in Campustown, said he’s looking forward to the summer, his first as owner of Sips.

“We know that the summer can’t compete with the school year, but we are real optimistic about it,” he said.

White sees the summer as a new and different business opportunity, and he has made several changes he believes will help his business do well.

“With summer classes, it seems that people have a better opportunity to go out on different nights of the week, so we have opened Sips on Monday nights, whereas during the school year we hadn’t,” he said.

White also said he offers more aggressive drink specials during the summer, as opposed to the school year when they stayed consistent.

Luckily for White, the ratio of his staff leaving was in proportion with the number of ISU students moving out of Ames.

“The number of employees that leave in the summer and those that stay behind seemed to fit accordingly to what is needed,” he said. “We haven’t had to lay off anyone.”

Overall, White said he remains quite optimistic.

“We are looking at the summer as an opportunity to stay real consistent with the business,” he said. “So while we suffer a little, it is not as much as one would expect.”