BLACKSBURG, Va. – Metallica was just in town, and this week is graduation; that means for the past two weeks, businesses in the town of Blacksburg have been busy.
“It’s great for the business,” said Michael Buchanan, owner of Souvlaki. “It’s always a benefit to throw days in like that into the mix to throw some money in the bank.”
Metallica brought over 70,000 people to the town of Blacksburg.
Now, businesses this week are hunkered down as Virginia Tech graduates and students move out, bringing in thousands more.
For the owner of Souvlaki, Michael Buchanan, he said weeks like last week and this week are hard work, but the extra business is great.
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“It’s more spread out as far as the business is concerned, so you have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, where the numbers will be pretty good,” Buchanan said. “I’ve got six or seven people graduating here and so its going to make it a little tougher.”
At the Blacksburg Bed and Breakfast, owner Pawel Nazarewicz said Metallica week was crazy, and graduation week is always booked way in advance.
He said the extra week of guests ahead of graduation made this time of the year even better for local businesses.
“Normally, that week before graduation is kind of tends to be kind of on the dead side,” said Nazarewicz, owner of Blacksburg Bed and Breakfast. “I don’t know if Blacksburg could’ve asked for a better stimulus for their small and big business.”
He said he just hopes the town and Virginia Tech continue to partner to have months like this to benefit everyone in town.
Both business owners said they are now just getting ready for graduation weekend.