Prepared for F1 business boom, South Congress quieter than usual
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Grand Prix weekend is here and after more than a year of hype, local businesses are prepped for a stampede. However, many of those businesses are still waiting for that stampede to begin.
"I heard there was going to be 100,000 people," Raymond Jones with Short Bus Subs said.
But for lunch on Saturday, few tourists could be found on South Congress and locals were hunkered down in their homes, fearing the worst.
"People are under the impression that there are bad traffic jams which there are not and there are big crowds, which there are not, so people should come on down," Greg Shaw with Guero’s said.
Combine that with the fact that Saturday seems slower than normal and the fact that businesses reinforced their staffs, many will be lucky to break even on a weekend when they were promised so much.
"It's odd because we can usually count on being a little slammed,” Troy Ramirez, manager of Home Slice Pizza, said. “For some people, I'm sure it's a welcome break, but for us, we are going to stay positive either way."