(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Lori Arpey, at Finders Keepers on Glen Street in Glens Falls, says the basketball tournament brought in foot traffic.
Retailers and restaurateurs tell FoothillsBusinessDaily.com that it was nice to have the state boys high school basketball tournament back at Glens Falls’ Cool Insuring Arena after three years in Binghamton and two years cancelled because of COVID.
Attendance for the games over the weekend on March 18 and 19 was about 11,500 said Jeff Mead, the General Manager of the Cool Insuring Arena where the tournament was played. That is an average turnout for the annual competition officially called the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball Championships.
"It's down a bit historically in Glens Falls, but I believe it was up compared to Binghamton,” Mead said.
The simple fact that the tourney has returned to Glens Falls made many happy.
"Tournament tourism is so important," said Amy Collins the director of tourism and business development for the city, adding that tournaments bring “feet on the street” for local businesses.
“Friday was insane,” said Raul’s bartender Cassandra Walczak. Raul’s sits on Centennial Circle downtown. She said that having the tournament back in Glens Falls was worth it. “The people were great, great families.”
"Mobbed, absolutely mobbed,” said R.J. Stockdale, a bartender who worked the weekend at the Bullpen Tavern on Glen Street. He said that he saw people who had come to the games for decades but had not been by when the games moved to Binghamton.
“They were ready to come back to Glens Falls,” Stockdale said. “It definitely had the old-school feel.”
Restaurants were not the only ones happy with the turnout. Retailers in downtown reported a bump in sales, or at least a bump in window shopping and foot traffic. J. Reid mens store had a good weekend, said manager Stacy Bissell, but then, “We always have strong weekends.”
Lori Arpey who works at the Finders Keepers consignment store on Glen Street, said: “We got people in between games...They walk around and hit all the shops.”
Robin Barkenhagen, the co-owner of 42 Degrees, a glass and smoke shop on Glen Street, said tournament time is always his favorite.
“It was wonderful to see the town come alive again,” Barkenhagen said, adding that weekend business was fantastic, and he likes to meet the people from all over the state and get that exposure. “It felt normal again.”
Keenan Brennan, who works at Fountain Square Outfitters on Centennial Circle, said March is a bit of shoulder season for the retailer. Though they got a bit of foot traffic, it was a lot of young people just window shopping.
Carly Mankouski, owner of Radici, a restaurant on Ridge Street, says she appreciated the buzz the tournament brings to the community, but her restaurant did not see the bump that others may have. Mikado bar tender Corey Mott reported much the same. He said the trouble at times may have been parking. When the streets and lots fill, some people, especially regulars who were not trying to see the games, get frustrated and head up Glen Street to Queensbury for dinner.
Glens Falls does not yet have hard data on the economic impact of the return of the tourney.
Correction: We misrepresented how long the tourney was in Binghamton. The story has been fixed.