At 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Potbelly Sandwich Works sits largely empty. The bustling lunchtime rush of customers has been downgraded to just a few patrons scattered across the restaurant’s wooden chairs and booths.

Though the scene may be unfamiliar to University students, who are used to crowded streets and businesses during the fall and spring, it typifies the effects of May’s fluctuating campus population.

The dynamics of the Champaign summer economy rely heavily on adjusting to the drop in population, a process that may not be as drastic as some think.

T.J. Blakeman, a city planner for Champaign, cited trends that emerge as the student population changes.

“Obviously there’s a decrease from half the population or better moving out, but in its place I think it’s replaced by University workers who don’t get to experience Campustown much. They come out, and community members come down to campus because it’s more accessible,” Blakeman said. “At lunchtime, though, just from personal observation, I see lines at restaurants, sometimes out the door over the summer just as much as during the school year. Obviously there’s a drop off, but there’s still foot traffic out there.”

Even the number of students choosing to leave campus for the summer has appeared to shift in recent years, Blakeman said.

“A majority of (the students) leave town, but I think we are seeing a larger percentage of people staying down here for the summer, whether it is to save on college and finish early, or just because they have apartment leases and they might as well use them.”

Though local demographics may, to a certain extent, offset the relative emptiness of Campustown in the summer months, some local businesses, especially those lining Green St., say they see a significant drop in profit.

Massy Hamzalui, an employee at Antonio’s Pizza, 619 E. Green St., foresees a potential 80 to 85 percent drop in sales during the summer months, due in part to a decreased stock of ingredients.

“We do not have the whole menu right now. We have probably about 50 percent of the menu,” Hamzalui said. “With some products, we can’t have them in the summer because of the quantity we need to use.”

To combat the loss of revenue usually generated by students, businesses such as Potbelly Sandwich Works, 501 E. Green St., develop a structured plan to make summer operation more efficient and profitable.

“Here at Potbelly, once graduation weekend hits, we actually close early because we know we’re not going to be as busy,” said Kesha Riley, the store’s assistant manager. “We probably do at least 20 percent less business in the summertime than we do during other times of the year, so to account for that we have less hours open and we cut back our staff as well.”

Potbelly is planning on experimenting with the traditional “less is more” mentality of summertime business by closing at their regular time, 9 p.m., on just Fridays and Saturdays during summer session II. The administrative maneuver does hinge on business picking up, but Riley admits she “does not think it will.”

Instead, Potbelly and other Campustown establishments find themselves catering to a much different crowd while the student population dwindles.

“We do get a few ‘townies’ who don’t come to campus unless the students aren’t here,” Riley said. “On the weekends we do see more families with small kids, but during the week they stay away. I guess students kind of scare them.”

Shorter hours, less employees and a different customer base complete the commercial transformation of Campustown every summer.

Amid all the changes and adjustments, Hamzalui was able to find one concrete certainty about the summer economy in Champaign.

“(Business is) slow. It’s going to be slow until August. Definitely.”