Many local businesses hope to thrive from Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day festivities, as about 10,000 guests are expected to visit the Champaign-Urbana area.

City officials said it is difficult to track the economic flow during the holiday weekend, especially because the holiday is not sanctioned by the city or the University. But Champaign Mayor Don Gerard said the increase in visitors helps to stimulate the community’s economy.

“I think it’s fairly evident from a global standpoint that, when you have a number of visitors coming to town and they’re purchasing alcohol and pizza and sandwiches and t-shirts, it’s going to have a great economic impact,” Gerard said.

As the amount of alcohol students and visitors consume rises during Unofficial weekend, Gerard said some of the local businesses that are most directly impacted are bars and liquor stores.

Greg McCauley, assistant manager of Binny’s Beverage Depot in Champaign, said business on Unofficial more than quadruples that of a standard business day.

Last year, Binny’s opened for the first time in Champaign only a week before the celebrations began. This year, employees are expecting to see a dramatic increase of about 20 percent in sales because the store is more prepared than last year, McCauley said.  

Similarly, liquor sales at Friar Tuck Beverage in Savoy more than doubled the day before Unofficial in 2011, said store co-manager Patrick O’Keefe. Exact sales figures are not disclosed to the public.

This year, he said he expects to see people buying more kegs, Irish whiskey and macrobrew beer, such as Miller and Coors. He said this is because the business isn’t subject to the same Unofficial policies liquor stores in Champaign and Urbana must follow.

But B.J. Stipes, vice president and general manager of Orange & Blue Distributing Co., said brewery beer sales on Unofficial have been declining in recent years. In 2011, beer sales were 32 percent higher than a normal week but only 25 percent higher than a normal week in 2012, with a similar decline expected this year, also according to Stipes.

While Stipes said he does not have data on the amount of spirits sold, as they are only a small percentage of his company, he said spirit sales during Unofficial are not decreasing like beer sales. 

“I do not think Unofficial is declining in overall growth,” he said. “I think students are bringing alcohol from other campuses and also buying more spirits. We can’t account for that.”

He added that he thinks the city requiring a registration form upon purchasing large quantities of alcohol is a good idea and will help to keep students safe.

Gerard said bars and liquor stores are not the only businesses that benefit from Unofficial. From his observations in previous years, he said he noticed that a lot of restaurant sales skyrocketed during the weekend as well.

“The bars do well, but they do well on any Friday or Saturday,” he said. “I walked around last year for a couple of hours, and I saw so many people walking down the street with huge stacks of pizza and armloads of sandwiches and stuff. There are a lot of food sales, to be honest, a lot of restaurant sales.” 

At Fat Sandwich Company, lines don’t typically begin to form until about midnight on a normal weekend night, said Michael Campbell, general manager. But on Unofficial, he said the line will be out the door and around the corner from open to close, 11 a.m. on Friday until 3 a.m. on Saturday. 

Campbell said every year, he orders more food for Unofficial than the year before. But every year, the company still sells out.

“Every year just blows the numbers off the year before,” Campbell said. “If you’re understaffed, you’ll be overwhelmed.” 

In addition, Gerard said many local hotels get a lot of business from out-of-town Unofficial participants, especially because visitors are not allowed in most University residence halls during the weekend. 

However, not all businesses benefit from the increased number of visitors on campus. Walter Lotz, manager of the Illini Union Hotel, said the hotel actually spends more money during Unofficial weekend for extra cleaning crews and increased security.

Although Gerard said the city of Champaign is not necessarily proud of Unofficial, he said it is hard to ignore the increased revenue local businesses receive from the event. He said he hopes it can evolve into something more productive in the future, such as a fundraiser for charity.

“Certainly it’d be hypocritical to deny the economic impact of Unofficial, but I hope the student body can eventually turn it into more of a positive event,” Gerard said. “In the meantime, I appreciate all the students who are working to take some pride and make sure our community is respected.”

Lauren can be reached at [email protected].