ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s been a busy weekend at the M Den along State Street in Ann Arbor. The campus go to for Michigan apparel, relies heavily on football traffic.
“Football weekends are just a gigantic part of our business,” said M Den owner Scott Hirth. "It's like oxygen. For what we do, you’ve gotta have football.”
According to Hirth, football traffic accounts for about half of their business. Business they haven’t had in roughly two years.
“It's been a long long hard spell here with what was going on with COVID,” Hirth said.
During that long spell, new business like the Drip House opened their doors, spending an entire season with no fans, and few students on campus.
“It was like a big culture shock for us because we had not experienced business with students yet, we hadn’t experienced business with games happening yet,” said Shift Manager Mandy Gallegos.
Saturday was a big day for business at the Drip House, especially since the coffee shop has a prime location.
“We’re very happy to have the location that we have because being right across from the stadium, that’s like kind of a blessing to be honest,” Gallegos said.
Football is finally back, and even before the Wolverines took the field, it was already a win for businesses in Ann Arbor.
“You can't replace football games in Ann Arbor, on a weekend like this," Hirth said. "It’s great to have it back.”
