JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

BT's manager Ken Day pours drinks at the Radford restaurant. Day said about half of the restaurant's business comes from students and faculty, and he said he makes an effort to show parents and students at new-student orientation that his restaurant is more than a bar. "Monday through Thursday folks with a 9-to-5 job don't stay out drinking beer until 2 a.m., whereas students do sometimes," he said.

Textbooks soon will fill the shelves at the bookstores, but they aren't the only businesses preparing for the arrival of thousands of Radford University and Virginia Tech students.

"We're ordering like crazy, trying to get supplies in," said Steve Miller, owner of Mish Mish in Blacksburg.

The arts supply store sells kits to students in art, interior design and related majors at Radford and Tech. Tech students pick up their kits at the Main Street store in Blacksburg, while staff members deliver the kits to Radford, Miller said.

"I'm also trying to hire and train new staff" to handle the expected increase in business, Miller said.

In fact, most businesses near the universities are looking forward to the return of the students, whose presence boosts sales at restaurants, retail stores and other businesses.

According to a 2000 Tech study of the economic impact of the university, undergraduate and graduate students pumped about $104.4 million into the local economy.

Data from the use of student "Hokie Passports" -- similar to prepaid credit cards -- from the 2008-09 academic year show Tech students spending $959,000 at off-campus businesses that accept the passports as payment for goods and services.

Ken Day, general manager of BT's restaurant in Radford, has been preparing fliers and discount coupons.

Day said July is always the slowest month of the year. About half of Day's business comes from students and faculty, and he said he makes an effort to show parents and students at new-student orientation that his restaurant is more than a bar.

"Monday through Thursday folks with a 9-to-5 job don't stay out drinking beer until 2 a.m., whereas students do sometimes," he said.

Day said he cuts his payroll by 30 percent in the summer and brings back many employees in the fall.

The university community provides about half of Radford City Florist's business. Owner Jeff Corbin said he will increase daily inventories in preparation for the influx of students, who Corbin said have a two-part role in his business' success.

"Students are just as important as a recipient as they are a customer," he said.

Macado's restaurant in Radford has an increase in sales of up to 50 percent on back-to-school weekends, partly because of its location adjacent to campus. Kevin Clarke, the eatery's director of operations, said summer sales tend to dip.

Clarke said the restaurant has begun preparing for students, hiring and training new employees.

But while the summer months have been hard on some local businesses, others in Radford have seen an increase.

Bill Barnham, owner of A1 Skin, Ink and Body Shop, said the summer is sometimes busier for his business. He correlated the rise of tattoo popularity with the warm weather, noting many people will see others in shorts or bathing suits with tattoos they find intriguing.

Barnham said he also sees a lot of 18-year-old students feeling rebellious during their freshman year at Radford.

"When the bird gets kicked out of the nest it feels free to do what it wants to do," he said. "I try to talk a lot more people out of it [a tattoo] than I do in to it."

In Blacksburg, Green's Grill & Sushi Bar owner Georges Elabboub is training new staff and expanding his menu after a year in business on College Avenue.

Customers can expect to see more Middle Eastern dishes and more sushi roll options next month just as Tech resumes fall classes, he said.

Elabboub remodeled the former Subway sandwich shop location, where he offers Middle Eastern-style dishes, seafood and a sushi bar at prices friendly to college students.

Meanwhile, staff at the Lyric Theatre expect to see about a 20 percent increase in movie attendance when Tech students return, executive director Susan Mattingly said.

"We're happy to see them come back," she said.

Not only does the return deepen the pool of volunteer workers who help run the theater, but also a good portion of the Lyric's events rental business comes from student activities.

Weathering the summer slowdown requires planning and putting aside operational funds, both of which the Lyric is practiced at doing, Mattingly said.

While business slows in the summer, Blacksburg is far from deserted.

Conferences, summer camps and new-student orientation at Tech, not to mention Blacksburg festivals such as Steppin' Out, happening Aug. 6 and 7, bring people to town throughout the summer, said Sue Drzal of Downtown Blacksburg Inc.

While students certainly boost business, particularly in the evenings, "if locals do not come out, we can't make it," Elabboub said.

While his business slowed somewhat this summer, "it was not as much as we expected," he said. "The locals kept us going."