When most NIU students go home for the summer, businesses in DeKalb still manage to stay busy.

Many local businesses, however, do notice a slight decrease in customers.

“Our business drops down not nearly as much as I thought it would, but it does,” said Sam Hastings, store manager of Starbucks Coffee, 1015 W. Lincoln Highway.

Despite the drop in business over the summer, Hastings said there was “never any doubt” that the two Starbucks located in DeKalb would not be among the hundreds of Starbucks being closed in the country.

Even though most businesses do not necessarily rely on students, they do appreciate the business when students are back in town.

“It’s always nice when the kids are in town,” said Brian White, manager of Fatty’s Pub & Grill, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway.

Many businesses continue with the same hours to meet the needs of residents regardless of being slightly less busy.

“We have a lot of year-round people so we keep our hours the same for them,” said Tim Cox, attendant at Double Bubble Coin Laundry, 850 Pappas Drive.

There are still many places, mainly pizzerias, that heavily rely on students for business.

“More than 75 percent of business comes from college students,” said Jason Wieser, assistant manager of Huskie’s Pizza, 850 Pappas Drive.

Wieser said he wasn’t sure if their dramatic drop in business was due to students being gone or lack of advertising.

“We didn’t get advertisement out for locals in time, which probably would have helped business a lot,” Wieser said.

To make up for the lack of business, some businesses cut back hours and staffing.

“We closed at 3 a.m. not 3:30 a.m. in the summer but now that people are back we’re going back to the old hours,” said Jen Taylor, shift manager of Toppers Pizza, 1015 E. Lincoln Highway. “We have less employees over the summer.”

Huskie’s Pizza also cut back on their hours over the summer.

One thing remains common among all the businesses, regardless of how their summer sales went.

“Business goes up immensely when students are back,” White said.

City editor Jessica Sabbah contributed to this article.