Small business owners near the United Center and McCormick Place are seeing and feeling the impact of the Democratic National Convention, but not everyone in a positive way.
Billy Goat's, a bar down the street from UCLA, where the Chicago Democratic National Convention hosts its main evening programming, was packed with customers.
“From what I’ve seen, our business has been great. We’ve had protesters, police, firefighters,” said restaurant manager Jill Doherty. “Everyone comes in and does well. We had two private parties yesterday.”
It's a different story for Su Taqueria El Rey Del Taco near Paulina and Ogden, just steps from the vehicle inspection checkpoint.
“We had planned to have more staff,” said manager Carla Franco. “We wanted to have them on the first day, which was Monday. We brought six staff, but once we realized things weren’t going as fast as they should, things got quieter, so we sent them home.”
Barriers and detours have made it difficult for regular customers in the South Loop area to get through. South Loop Market employees told NBC Chicago their sales have been hurt this week.
“I think it’s probably 50 percent,” said Camilla Cuff, food service manager. “It’s a drastic number.”
They had stocked up and were relying on conference attendees to stay in nearby hotels.
“All the managers and owners are saying the same thing,” Cuff said. “They haven’t seen any delegates come in, they haven’t seen any influx of sales because of the Democratic convention. Like I said, it’s disappointing.”
A T-shirt vendor set up shop near the intersection, relying on foot traffic to sell his products. Businesses like Brown Sugar Bakery on the South Side rolled out a Kamala Cake to honor Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and attract new customers.
“We’ve had a bigger response than I expected,” said Stephanie Hart, the restaurant’s owner. “People are actually coming in and looking to buy the cake, whole and sliced.”
But for some restaurants within the NDP's jurisdiction, the move has been a failure for several reasons, according to Sam Sanchez, a board member of the National Restaurant Association.
“Conference attendees leave at 5 a.m. and don’t get out until 10:30 or 11 a.m. By that time all the businesses are closed, and locals, after all the social media and misinformation, were afraid of riots,” he said.
