DeKALB | When students return home for summer break, they leave behind local businesses that relied on them during the semester.

Molly’s Eatery & Drinkery, 1022 W. Lincoln Highway, experiences a decrease in customers, but managers are not concerned about the summer. Brian Harberer, manager of Molly’s, said the bar has been well established since the late 1980’s.

“Business goes down a little bit,” Harberer said. “It’s an obvious decrease, but it’s not like the bar is empty.”

Harberer believes Molly’s remains successful over the summer because the bar adapts to the changing needs of their clientele.

“We try to stay in touch with the student body,” Harberer said. “We try to give them what they want.”

Molly’s utilizes its beer garden and often throws theme parties.

“We’ll go a little bit cheaper to attract people who are still up here,” Harberer said. “We take advantage of the warm weather and try to do stuff outside.”

Otto’s Niteclub & Underground, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, is also a long-time DeKalb business.

General manager Marco Valentino believes their new way of booking music will attract more people this summer.

“In the past, our summers were a lot slower,” Valentino said. “This is going to be an interesting summer because we are doing our music a little differently.”

Valentino said Otto’s goes through a separate company to book their shows and has increased the number of shows to about 75 a month.

“A lot of our shows will be drawing on the surrounding areas,” Valentino said. “This is a new thing for us, but I have high hopes and good expectations.

Reilly’s Bar & Eatery, 1215 Blackhawk Road, a newcomer to the DeKalb nightlife circuit, does not plan to change for the summer.

“We’re going to stick to what we normally do,” said general manager Brian Powell. “We’re pretty confident in what we have. We’re just going to emphasize our beer garden a bit more.”

Powell agrees with Harberer and is not worried about losing a significant amount of business.

“We’ve prepared for the summer pretty well,” Powell said. “We’ve reached out to the community. Our business has picked up with the locals as well as the college students here.”