Downtown businesses relishing Elite Eight traffic

By Harry Loomis

As eight of the best NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball teams arrived in St. Joseph to decide the national champion, thousands of friends, family and fans came along to support their favorite teams.

With all these new guests to St. Joseph, the surrounding businesses have an opportunity to meet customers whom they would otherwise likely never interact with.

For some businesses, this week is used to increase their social media presence. Others, like Garden Gate Flowers, worked with Ferris State University, as they held fan events in town.

“We were so excited and felt very special to be included in that,” said Stacy Fisher, owner of Garden Gate Flowers. “They were so kind and we all got into the spirit because they were so full of energy and were a lot of fun to work with so you could feel it throughout the team.”

Even as the company took the initiative and created the connection with one of the contending teams, foot traffic as a whole has been up this week.

“We’re so excited to see that,” Fisher said. “It’s so fun to see the hustle and bustle of downtown. It’s just really exciting. We have had so much fun introducing ourselves to these new individuals and sharing what’s special about St. Joe.”

The tournament won’t be returning to Civic Arena in 2025, however, this kind of major event can serve as a learning opportunity on how to get businesses out there.

“We had some success this year and we’ll hopefully have more as the week progresses,” Fisher said. “We’re already brainstorming for next year because we have some really fun ideas to maybe work more so with those out-of-town universities and customers.”