Boston Loss of visitors & students will affect the local economy ?!? (Cambridge: apartments, rentals)

[Popfizz]

The weather this week was amazing mostly... Outdoor dining open, indoor dining open, prudential mall open . & it sas still dead zone compared to before its amazing. The hotels restaueant all on Boylston from the Fire house to Exeter is mostly dead . No foot traffic not much of anything. This is getting scary now. How will places survive ?!?


Im thinking to scrutinize operations to the most basic & money making menu with only 1/4 of staff. It has to make money and with all these rules its hard

WINTER outdoor dining ??

[Lucky Clover]

Originally Posted by Popfizz

The weather this week was amazing mostly... Outdoor dining open, indoor dining open, prudential mall open . & it sas still dead zone compared to before its amazing. The hotels restaueant all on Boylston from the Fire house to Exeter is mostly dead . No foot traffic not much of anything. This is getting scary now. How will places survive ?!?


Im thinking to scrutinize operations to the most basic & money making menu with only 1/4 of staff. It has to make money and with all these rules its hard

WINTER outdoor dining ??

Most cities are in the same boat as far as visitors go. NYC will hurt more than Boston. Hell even places like LA, Orlando and especially of course Las Vegas will hurt more than Boston.

The students are a loss but from an actual population standpoint they aren't *that* large.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Lucky Clover

The students are a loss but from an actual population standpoint they aren't *that* large.

Given the number of college admin and small biz reliant on an active and present student population, I'd say you're under selling the financial impact by a large margin.

[RBThescot]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Given the number of college admin and small biz reliant on an active and present student population, I'd say you're under selling the financial impact by a large margin.

In Amherst, apartment rentals are very competitive. Most landlords rent student apartments for the first of August, not the first of September, so the landlord is covered if they skip out on the next summer rent. That and the volume of U-Hauls moving students in Amherst or the Fenway/Back Bay over the next few weeks is a good indicator.

In Amherst, most of the local restaurants​ are part of the UMass student meals plan. They're in the student meals plan because otherwise there wouldn't be enough local patrons to sustain them, not because anyone likes students. No students = empty restaurants = closed restaurants. No students = empty apartments. It usually gets busy in Amherst beginning around mid July.

[bugelrex]

If in house teaching is not resumed by Jan 2021, people will finally start to realize how how universities are ripping students off (tuition remains the same)

Perhaps this will finally trigger cheaper tuitions. The government should have stepped in years ago to control the runaway cost

[mdovell]

There's an old high school friends that lives in Seattle and has been working for Amazon. He's become more vocal because they've dealt with this a little bit before it went on a national level. He's anticipating working from home for the next year to two years.

Amherst is dead and Cambridge isn't that far behind. Rents dropped in sf and NYC. Boston can be next.

You have to figure that the exclusion of H-1B and now the policies on student visas is going to have more of a deepening impact once we realize they're no longer here

[id77]

Originally Posted by Popfizz

The weather this week was amazing mostly... Outdoor dining open, indoor dining open, prudential mall open . & it sas still dead zone compared to before its amazing. The hotels restaueant all on Boylston from the Fire house to Exeter is mostly dead . No foot traffic not much of anything. This is getting scary now. How will places survive ?!?


Im thinking to scrutinize operations to the most basic & money making menu with only 1/4 of staff. It has to make money and with all these rules its hard

WINTER outdoor dining ??

You might be surprised on the crowds. I live near Copley so I get out there several times a week and I can say that there's a LOT more people out and about now than there was in late March and April. There's definitely some people coming in from the burbs or even out of state.

The restaurants have been treading water with takeout. The places I've spoken to have reported that their takeout traffic is way up, and while fast casual places like the Chipotle and Dig Inn aren't getting the hordes of 11:45-12:30 lunch break traffic they used to, there's still multiple takeout orders waiting for pickup and a couple people in line every time I go in.

It's the retailers along Newbury or in the Pru/Copley that are going to get hit harder. Except Apple ... last few times I walked by there were lines to get in. Go figure.

[dcb175]

Originally Posted by Lucky Clover

Most cities are in the same boat as far as visitors go. NYC will hurt more than Boston. Hell even places like LA, Orlando and especially of course Las Vegas will hurt more than Boston.

The students are a loss but from an actual population standpoint they aren't *that* large.

NYC is also very odd right now. I drove up to my parents in MA from Hoboken last weekend, and Waze would never normally route me THROUGH MANHATTAN to get there (almost always GWB). But it did, and I reluctantly followed it and was shocked at how dead it was. I was flying through the streets at 40mph, which if you've ever driven there is like some weird Vanilla Sky-esqe dream. No tourists + no office workers + most Manhattanites with means leaving for greener pastures = one strange, dead city.

I'm sure Boston is similar. I hope things start to return to some semblance of normalcy at some point, but dense cities that rely on tourists will likely be in for some pain.

[Guineas]

Places like Northampton, Amherst, Williamstown are even more screwed as their entire economy revolves around the local colleges and the consumption from the students. At least Cambridge has an economy outside higher ed.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Guineas

Places like Northampton, Amherst, Williamstown are even more screwed as their entire economy revolves around the local colleges and the consumption from the students. At least Cambridge has an economy outside higher ed.

I was out in Williamstown a few weeks back. It was an absolute ghost town beyond the like-minded people enjoying the relatively empty Clark and Williams properties. Between the shuttered colleges and tapered tourism, I suspect the area will be struggling greatly this year.