Restaurants and stores must handle changes in sales and staffing over the University’s winter break because the student population represents a large proportion of Corner businesses’ customers and employees. This time of year, businesses rely on local customers and full-time employees to maintain sales during the post-holiday slow period.
Located near Central Grounds, the Corner serves as a shopping and social center for University students and Charlottesville locals alike, offering a variety of dining and shopping options. As a popular local hub, the Corner features restaurants, such as The Virginian and Christian’s Pizza, clothing stores, such as Finch Boutique and Mincer’s, and sweet treat shops such as Chaps Ice Cream and Insomnia Cookies.
Cal Mincer, president of University merchandise store Mincer’s, noted that winter break after New Year’s is his business’s slowest time of year. He partly attributed this to students being home for break but also acknowledged the several other elements at play.
“We do stay pretty busy right up until the end [of Christmas], but now for the remainder of winter break we’ll be very slow,” Mincer said. “It's partly [the lack of] students, it’s partly it’s just cold and dark and mucky outside. Also, everyone's shopped-out because of the holiday season, so there's a lot of factors going into it.”
Finch Boutique similarly experiences this slower period during the second half of winter break, particularly after Christmas shopping. However, local holiday shopping allows their sales to remain consistent. Marisol Rodriguez, Finch sales associate and Charlottesville local, noted that even though students make up a large percentage of their customers, Charlottesville residents also contribute greatly to their sales.
“When [students] are gone … in terms of sales we still do just as well, because we have locals, and then holiday shopping brings in a lot of revenue,” Rodriguez said. “A parent is going to spend more money in one purchase holiday shopping for three different kids than one single U.Va. student will for themselves.”
Not only are students customers of these businesses, but they are also employees. Mincer’s is one of many Corner businesses which hires students during the academic year. Mincer estimates his business to have around 10 or 11 part-time student workers, who are almost all away from Charlottesville for break. Throughout this time, he relies on his 10 to 15 full-time employees to keep the business open and running smoothly.
Finch similarly employs several University students during the school year. Rodriguez said that Charlottesville residents make up the entirety of their staff during winter break — she also noted that several Charlottesville locals who attend university at other schools return during winter break to support staffing needs.
For some businesses, such as Chaps Ice Cream, staffing is not a major worry over winter break because of the slower business and decreased hours. Chaps opened their Corner location in March 2024 to accompany their original location at Downtown Mall. According to Emily Smith, manager of the Corner location, because ice cream is much more popular in the summer months than winter, some of their staffing concerns are alleviated through decreased hours, including remaining closed during some of December and January, as well as opening only in the evenings throughout January.
Smith also mentioned Chaps’ plan to adjust their hours in early and mid January, to see whether or not students returning to Grounds for J-Term courses will impact sales.
“We're kind of doing a bit of an experiment, because we see there's a J-Term, so we're just staying open nights those days, to see if there's still some business,” Smith said. “If not, we might adjust next year.”
Some businesses do not decrease their hours over break and instead rely on local customers. Charlottesville locals allow Finch, along with many other Corner businesses, to keep sales fairly consistent during this slower period of the academic year. Rodriguez said Finch relies on both students and locals to support their business, depending on the time of year — locals make up a larger percentage of sales during holidays and breaks.
“The reason we're able to do so well [all year] is just because of the mutual support from the students and the locals,” Rodriguez said. “They both contribute greatly to business here at Finch.”
Mincer accepts the reality of the slow business in December and January and takes this period as an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming peak of basketball season, which is one of his busiest times of the year. He said that throughout the winter break season and the month of January, he uses slow periods to update store systems and make sure merchandise is organized, ahead of increased demand for merchandise during basketball season.
“I generally approach it as January is going to be the slowest month of the year, and it's just kind of how it is,” Mincer said. “Hopefully, once basketball season hits … we'll be ready.”
For a relatively new Chaps location, this slow time of year is an opportunity to experiment and determine how to change operations to accommodate periods of slow business in the future. Smith said that the majority of their employees working at the Corner location over break are University students who happen to remain in Charlottesville, so decreased hours have allowed them to function even with fewer staffers.
“It's kind of been a bit of like trial and error on what the best hours are,” Smith said. “But it’s kind of working out so far.”
Although these Corner businesses still achieve sales throughout winter break, owners and managers find the atmosphere of the Corner to be different when students are away for winter break. Mincer mentioned the uplifting feeling Charlottesville has when courses are in session.
“The whole city's busier when the students are here,” Mincer said. “It kind of breathes life into the whole place.”
Students are gradually returning to Grounds, with J-Term courses having begun Thursday. Spring semester courses begin Jan. 13.
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