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Monday, August 29, 1988/The Battalion/Page 1 IE
Money
(Continued from page 1E)
tors pump millions of dollars into
the economy.
One way students keep College
Station’s economy healthy is by eat
ing out and buying groceries. Dur
ing football season, businesses get an
added boost.
On football game days, Double-
Dave’s experience a 10 percent in
crease in business.
“On game days, people don’t have
time to go out to eat,” Jondahl said.
"Instead, they order pizza.
“When the team wins, the stu
dents spend more the following
week,” he said. ‘‘I think it’s because
there is a buzz of excitement in the
air and the students are celebrating
the win all week.”
Medearis said his store sells more
party items — such as soda, beer,
chips and ice — before home foot
ball games.
“Home games are treated as holi
days,” Medearis said. “I add to my
orders to prepare for them.”
Thanksgiving is a double holiday
for Kroger if A&M and the Univer
sity of Texas are playing at Kyle
Field.
“When the game is played here,
we sell 200 turkey dinners,” Mederis
said. “When the game is at Austin,
we only sell 25.”
When the game is played at Kyle
Field, Medearis said he orders more
products, holiday merchandise and
displays.
Although Thanksgiving gives
commercial stores added business
biennially, Christmas rarely in
creases business.
“We run a lot of vacations of full
time employees during Christmas
because business slows down so
much,” Medearis said.
Kroger advertises heavily to try to
pull in more business during the hol
iday, he said, but so does the com-
petiton.
“I try to get the Christmas mer
chandise out early,” Medearis said,
“so tlfe students will buy gift wrap
and cards before they leave.”
Jondahl said DoubleDave’s deals
with the Christmas decline by closing
down the University Drive store for
two weeks, and closing the Carter
Creek store for a week. Those two
store managers work at the Jersey
store during this time.
Jondahl said, “We start out early
in December to catch the family’s
eye. We advertise more to pull the
town people in during the Christmas
' 11.”
The commercial businesses deal
with the summer decline the same
way that they treat Christmas’.
Stores order less merchandise,
give vacations and breathe easier.
However, when the students return
in August, everything changes.
Kroger increases its on-hand in
ventory by $250,000 and rehires the
to 75 students who went home for
the summer. Medearis said more
working hours are added to the
work schedules to deal with the
sharp increase in business. The store
fills with students stocking their pan-
tries.
In the last week of August and in
September, Jondahl said his restau
rant has a 60 percent increase in
business.
“This is mainly because students
are moving into their apartments,”
he said. “Many do not have their
electricity hooked up yet and do not
want to go shopping in the crowds.
After they get settled in, business
levels off by 20 percent.”
Bill Harrison, deputy finance di
rector of College Station, said A&M
is the city’s largest provider and a
major impact on the annual budget
planning. Student enrollment size is
an important factor. If enrollment
size is large, more apartments are
rented and more retail sales are
made.
A&M plays a large part of the
economy, Harrison said, because it
employs 15,000 people from the
city’s population of 52,000. These
people help the economy by buying
houses, groceries and paying city
taxes.
Glenn Schroeder, former deputy
finance director of College Station,
agreed.
“A large population of College
Station is employed by A&M,” he
said. “What A&M does with its bud
get affects how we plan ours. Salary
increases are important to the econ
omy. If there are no salary increases,
there will be no increased spending.”
Schroeder said large decreases in
student or faculty enrollment have a
significant impact on the economy
because money changes hands seve
ral times before leaving College Sta
tion.
“If you lose $1, you actually lose
$31/2 because that dollar could be
used to pay someone.” Shroeder
said. “That person could use that
dollar to go dancing, and the club
culd use that money to purchase
supplies. The money turns over
three or four different times before
that dollar leaves College Station. If
someone doesn’t get that dollar,
three or four other people don’t ei
ther.”
Schroeder said during the sum
mer the city’s pace slows down.
In the summer, the police depart
ment gives most of their vacations
because they are less busy, Sch
roeder said. They handle fewer calls
Entrepreneur
(Continued from page 8E)
would not make his store work.
“My whole business thrives on
ideas — not capital,” Flynn said.
And it has thrived. But Flynn
remembers when he began as the
only employee.
“I was purchasing, I was sales, I
was the technician, I was every
thing.”
Pushing further than Kingman
had allowed him to go, Flynn
purchased new computers to sell
instead of working solely on con
signment. Slowly, business in
creased. Finally, he knew it was
time to hire help.
“I hired four people by Jan
uary of 1987,” he said. “That
freed me up a lot.”
With his new-found freedom,
Flynn had a chance to use more
of what he had learned at Texas
A&M. However, this time he was
going to use the knowledge he
had acquired while minoring in
management.
Flynn started going after large
accounts from the campus across
the street from his store.
“My whole market started out
as the students and faculty and
has grown from there,” he said.
Now, he said, virtually every de-
E artment at Texas A&M has
ought something from Com
puter Access.
His biggest customer is the City
of College Station. To win that
contract, Flynn had to outbid 21
vendors from across the state.
“I’m motivated to prove to
(College Station officials) I can do
thejob,” Flynn said.
“I can’t let age make a
difference,”Flynn said.
“Sometimes I can make it
work in my favor. ... If I
lost everything tomorrow,
so what? I’d still be only 23
years old with my whole
life ahead of me. ”
— Computer Access
owner John Flynn
Flynn believes his business suc
cess can be attributed to several
» factors. But he said his employees
are the key component.
“I hire only students,” he said,
“or recent college graduates
wanting to stay around College
Station. They’re cheap labor, and
they’re very into their jobs.”
Mike Berryman, a salesman,
has been working for Flynn for
seven months.
“John is real demanding,” he
said, “but in a relaxed kind of
way.”
Sulyn Thomas, a senior ac
counting major and Flynn’s book
keeper, agrees.
“He pushes you hard, but only
because he wants your best,” she
said.
Flynn said he likes his employ
ees to be “computer enthusiasts.”
That way they can better serve
their customers.
Setting goals has helped Flynn
further his success.
“You have to make goals,” he
said. “It’s the difference between
people who make it and people
who don’t.”
However, Flynn has surpassed
his own goals.
“Never in my wildest dreams
did I think it (the business) would
grow this big,” he said.
Now it almost appears as if
Computer Access is growing out
of control. Gross sales for 1988
could climb over $2 million. The
walls of both stores are lined with
computers squeezed between
computers. The new workroom is
crowded with as many as three
technicians constructing comput
ers at one time. The office of the
new store is shared by Flynn,
Thomas and five sales people. In
the old store, boxes are stacked
from floor to ceiling.
“By opening the new store, I
hope to be able to prove the way
I’m marketing my products, the
way I’m setting up my store, the
way I’m purchasing products,
and the way I hire my employ
ees,” Flynn said.
If he can run the second store
without hurting the business at
the original site, Flynn said, it
could open the possibility of fran
chising.
Looking toward the future, the
self-proclaimed “workaholic” said
franchising is one of several pos
sibilities, especially for a man un
afraid of risk.
“If I lost everything tomorrow,
so what?” he said. “I’d still be only
23 years old with my whole life
ahead of me.”
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Battalion file photo
about loud parties and public intoxi
cation.
During the summer many apart
ments’ garbage is picked up only
once a week because they have a
high vacancy rate. Over one week
end the apartments fill up because
students are moving in. Frequent
collection is necessary because the
garbage pilfs up quickly.
“When the students return, the
garbage is collected two or three
times, a day, compared to twice a
week during the school year,” Sch
roeder said. This increases the city’s
expenses because of the overtime
and additional use of equipment.”
Harrison said College Station Uti
lities sends letters to students who
need to hook up their electricity to
inform them how they can hook up
by mail. This way the student does
not have to wait in line when they re
turn in August, and the city does not
have such a sharp workload increase
in August.
For the students who do not hook
their electricity early, the city tries to
make their wait as pleasant as possi
ble.
“While the students wait in line we
give them popcorn and lemonade
and have a T. V. on so they can watch
soap operas. We want their contact
with the city to be as pleasant and as
enjoyable as it can.”
Schroeder said some temporaries
are hired and utility employees work
overtime to get all the students
hooked up.
Although Schroeder realizes the
university’s contribution to the econ
omy, he is annoyed by the school’s
tax-exempt status.
“The University is a major indus
try and employer, Schroeder said.
“It is not a tax base, but the city still
has to provide police and fire protec
tion. We incur the costs, but don’t
get the revenue from the tax base.”
Despite this drawback, A&M pro
vides an added boost to the economy
and businesses that clearly dimin
ishes when the students leave and
take their money with them.
Now Is The Time To Think
About Next Summer’s Job
We invite you to work in Washington D.C. for the Central Intelli
gence Agency in one of our Student Programs*: (PIS CHECK)
—Minority Undergraduate Program
—Graduate Studies Program
—Cooperative Educative Program
*C1.S. Citizenship Required
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
For further information, please return coupon by
September 7,1988
Recruitment Activity Center
P.O. Box 50397
Dallas, Tx 75250
(214) 767-8550
*
*
*
*
*
Name
Address.
Phone Number (
)■
.Degree Field.
Expected Date of Graduation.
*
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