promotional mugs
To get the attention of students and family who are now flooding in to town, every business near campus has been flooding the area with their advertisements and gimmicks. There are concerts every few blocks put on by music stores and book stores. There are of course all of the big racks out front of the shops with all of the for sale items that everyone seems to want and need. Each business is vying for the attention for as many people as possible because this is the timer when people are relaxed and unknowledgeable about the area. It is at this point when people form their habits for the rest of the year because classes take away all of their exploring time and so they stick to what they already know. Some places are giving away hot dogs just to get people in the door. Restaurants are giving away meals for large orders and school supply stores are giving away promotional mugs.
If you think about this strategy it really does work. I mean when I came here last year I had no idea where anything was in the area. I went around town with my parents and explored for the whole week. Then I became a hermit until thanksgiving break. Then I went home. After that I was spending all of my free time studying for finals and then after they were done I went home. There was no exploring and there was no chance for me to look at all of the business that the area has to offer. The businesses that I would frequent were all of the ones that I had gone to with my parents, excluding those that were expensive because they can afford them. I think that the strategy also works for people like me because I know which businesses I already go to and so I can sort of choose to look at all of the ones that I am not familiar with. Hopefully this year I can find something interesting and play right in to their plan. Then I can come back next year and get swayed some other way and frequent some other set of businesses.